The Most Unlikely Couple
by Naomi S. Goldson
Summary: James was the captain of the Quidditch team and biggest prankster in the school. Lily was the smartest girl in school who was every teacher's favorite student. How did such they end up getting married? Read to find out...  I suck at summaries...and titles
1. First Impressions

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter! I don't own James Potter! I don't own Lily Evans! I don't own pretty much everything! **

Chapter 1

First Impressions

A piercing scream echoes through the Evan's house. Lily groaned and pulled her pillow over her head, trying to block out her sister's screaming. After about 5 minutes, Lily realized she wasn't going to be able to sleep anymore, so she climbed out of her bed, her green eyes flashing angrily and red hair a tangled mess. Though only 11, Lily could've scared off even the toughest bully in the neighborhood. She stomped down the steps and into the sitting room.

"Tuney! People are trying to sleep!" Lily told her older sister angrily.

Petunia wasn't listening. She was shaking from head to toe. "In the kitchen…" she muttered nervously.

Lily pursed her lips in annoyance. "Petunia, are you listening to me?" she asked.

"In the kitchen…"

Lily rolled her eyes. "I'll go see what's in the kitchen if it's bothering you this much," she snapped. Then she stalked to the kitchen. She looked around, her eyes falling on a large tawny owl sitting on the counter. She gasped. The owl hooted in a tone almost like scolding and stuck out a leg, to which was attached a letter in a parchment envelope. Lily ran over to the owl and grabbed the letter. No sooner had she done so that the owl fluttered away. She ripped it open and scanned it, her eyes widening with every word.

She wandered out of the kitchen a moment later, a dazed look on her face, a grin stretching from ear to ear.

"Sev was right," she told a frightened Petunia. "I'm going to Hogwarts."

The Evans house was a flurry of motion. Lily was running around unhelpfully, trying getting ready to leave so she wouldn't miss the train. Her mother was anxiously trying to make breakfast, pack Lily a lunch, and keep Lily and Petunia from killing each other. Her father was moving the luggage to the car as fast as he could, but Petunia was moving it out of the car.

"Petunia, stop unloading the car!" her father scolded.

"But I don't want Lily to go! She can't leave!" Petunia whined. "She can't go to that… freak school!"

"Petunia, it's not a freak school," her father said seriously.

"DADDY! I can't find my owl treats! Pixie Dust won't be happy!" Lily yelled from the doorway.

"You already packed them!" her father replied tiredly. "And I don't think Pixie Dust would notice; she's an owl."

Lily looked hurt. "She has feelings, too!" she protested, and then retreated into the house.

"Petunia! Come here!" yelled their mother from the kitchen.

"But –" Petunia began to protest.

"Now!"

Petunia stomped off, leaving her father free to load the car. Lily came out a moment later with a large cage under her arm containing a silvery gray and white owl.

"Lils, your food is in the kitchen," her father said, walking to his daughter and taking the owl. Lily nodded and ran to the kitchen where she found a small bagged lunch and a plate of scrambled eggs, toast with orange marmalade, and a few strips of bacon. Lily wolfed down the food before running out to the car where her dad was now closing the trunk and telling Petunia (who had come back out after a talk from her mother) to stop acting up.

"Get in the car," instructed Mrs. Evans as she closed the door and walked past Lily.

Lily jumped and ran forward, climbing into the back seat and leaving the door open for Petunia, who got in and slammed it so hard the whole car rocked back and forth for a moment. Their father raised an eyebrow at Petunia as he got into the driver's seat.

"Ready to leave?" Mrs. Evans asked.

"No," replied Petunia stubbornly.

"Yes! Oh, yes, yes, yes!" Lily sang joyously.

Mr. Evans chuckled as the car jumped to life and pulled out of the driveway.

Within 10 minutes, the Evans family was pulling up in front of Kings Cross station. Lily jumped out of the car before her father had even shut off the engine and was at the trunk, struggling to open it.

"Lily, the trunk's locked," Mrs. Evans told her daughter as she got out.

Lily stopped, blushing. "Oh," she muttered, stepping back so Mr. Evans could open the trunk. Petunia let out a harsh laugh. Lily shot her older sister a glare before going to get her owl from the seat where she had been sitting.

"Lils, why don't you go get a trolley for your things?" Mrs. Evans told her daughter as she watched her husband pull out all Lily's belongings.

Lily nodded and skipped off into the station to find a trolley, quickly locating one and running it back to the car. She helped her dad load everything onto it the led the way inside. She held her ticket in her hand, grinning from ear to ear.

"Lily, what platform are we supposed to go to?" Mr. Evans asked.

"Umm," Lily said, glancing down. "Nine and three quarters."

Her parents exchanged a glance. "Really, Lily, tell us the platform or you may miss the train; we're pushing it. Its almost 11," Mrs. Evans said tiredly.

"I _am_ being serious!" Lily said, showing her parents the ticket. "It says nine and three quarters!" Lily let out a dry sob. "How're we supposed to find it?"

"Why don't you ask?" said a cool voice from behind her, making Lily turn around. She was face to face with her best friend, Severus Snape.

"Sev!" she shrieked, hugging him. "I'm so excited! We're actually going! But…" Lily's face fell." How do we get to the platform?"

Severus smiled. "Follow me," he told her. Then he led Lily, Lily's family, and his mother to a wall. "Here we are," he said.

"You're joking, right?" Lily said. "We don't have the time for jokes!"

"No, I'm serious," Severus said truthfully. "Run at the wall. You'll go right through the platform nine and three quarters. I'll show you." Then he took his trolley back a bit and ran at the wall. Right as he should have collided with it, though, he disappeared. Lily blinked in surprise. Then Severus's mother did the same thing.

"Where'd they go?" shrieked Petunia.

"The platform," Lily said, flashing Petunia a false smile that hid her fear of crashing into the wall, which looked rather solid. Then she ran at the wall, praying it wasn't a joke. A moment later, she was standing on a platform by a scarlet steam engine, was surrounded by hundreds of people. It didn't take her long to find Severus and his mother, standing a few feet away, waiting. Lily rushed over. "That was _so _cool!" she bubbled. "You were right about the wall! You didn't lie!"

Severus smiled. "Of course," he said. "Why would I lie?"

Lily beamed at him. Then she returned to her family. Petunia looked sour, her parent looked amazed.

"I'm so excited!" she told her parents.

"We hope you have lots of fun," Mrs. Evans said. "Make sure you work hard and don't get into trouble."

"I'll have fun, now worries," Lily said, beaming. "And I _never_ get in trouble."

"I can't believe you're going to that school," Petunia sneered. "It's a school for… for freaks!"

Lily's smile faltered. "How can you say that?" she asked her sister, her eyes welling with tears.

"You guys are all just weirdos!" Petunia exclaimed. "Freaks and weirdos!"

"But – " Lily reached out and tried to grab Petunia's arm.

"Don't touch me, freak!" Petunia yelled, jerking away.

"How can you be like this? You wanted to be like me! You wrote to Dumbledore!" Lily protested. "You begged him to let you come!"

"I never begged him!"

"Yes you did. But he was very nice to you with his reply," Lily said.

"You read that?" Petunia snarled, eyes flashing. Then she noticed Lily glance nervously at Snape. "He read it, too! How could you? You're both just… freaks!"

Petunia stormed away, leaving Lily close to tears. She grabbed her things, gave her parents each a fleeting hug, and climbed onto the train and into a compartment. The train pulled out of the station a few minutes later and Lily, unsure when else to do it, changed into her Hogwarts robes. No sooner had she finished that a group of 4 loud boys entered her compartment, taking the empty seats, ignoring the fact Lily was already there. Snape, who also had changed, was walking down the hallway, peeking into all the compartments, searching for Lily. He found her huddled up, half hidden by the boys, her face red and blotchy from crying.

"Go away," she told him.

"Why?" he asked.

"It's your fault Tuney hates m-me. I-its b-because sh-she knows w-we s-saw the l-letter from Dumbledore," Lily stammered, turning away.

"Why does it matter?"

"Tuney's my sister!"

"But –" Snape stopped himself. Then he said, "But we're going to Hogwarts!"

Lily gave a half smile.

"You have to be in Slytherin," Snape said, nodding encouragingly.

"Why would she want to be in Slytherin?" asked one of the loud boys from the compartment. He had untidy black hair and hazel eyes.

"My whole family has been in Slytherin," another boy said. He had longer unkempt hair and a handsome face.

"Really?" the first boy said.

"Yep. But I'm hoping to end that. Which do you want to go to?" the second asked.

"Gryffindor, like my dad," the first replied.

Snape snorted.

"What's your problem?" the first boy asked rather nastily.

"Who'd want to be brave but not smart?" Snape asked coolly.

"Obviously some people," the second said grinning. "And where will you be going, seeing as you aren't brave or smart by the looks of you?"

The two boys laughed loudly. Lily got up, pulling Severus with her. "Come on, let's go somewhere else, Severus," she said, shooting a glare at the boys.

"Let's go somewhere else," imitated the first boy, laughing, and trying to trip Snape.

"See ya, Snivellus!" one of the boys called as the door was slammed shut.

**A.N.:**

**How was it? Horrible? Most likely. Awesome? Almost impossible. Please review! I need ideas/feedback!**

**I'm going to try my best to update every few days, at least once a week. Maybe more often (I have a younger sister who is now officially obsessed with this story after reading one chapter and bugs me every few minutes about when the next chapter will be done).**

**Reviews would be very much appreciated!**

**Thanks!**

**-Naomi**


	2. The Sorting

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter!**

Chapter 2

The Sorting

When the train finally slowed to a stop, it was past dark. Lily, who had fallen asleep with her head against the window, jerked awake as the train halted. Severus grinned. "We're here!" he said excitedly.

Lily jumped up and pulled her trunk down, dragging it into the hall with her owl's cage under her other arm, Severus close behind. She lugged it onto the platform and put it down. "Do we just leave it here?" she wondered aloud.

"I guess," Severus said, shrugging he set his down as well.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" came a gruff voice. Lily looked around to find who was calling the first years. Her eyes fell on a huge man the size of an elephant. She gasped. "You mus' be a firs' year," the man said. "I'm Hagrid, the gamekeeper. Yeh need teh come with me, I bring the firs' years up ev'ry year." Lily nodded while Severus was staring wide-eyed.

"Whoa!" exclaimed a familiar voice. Lily spun around to see the first boy from the train. She rolled her eyes.

"C'mon firs' years! Follow me!" Hagrid yelled before he turned and led the little group of timid first years down a path leading away from the stream of older students.

"Where are we going?" Lily asked Hagrid.

"Yeh'll see in a mo'," Hagrid said, smiling.

"Why aren't we going with the other students?" Lily asked.

"They're older, they don't need the come this way," Hagrid answered patiently. Then he strode ahead, leaving Lily feeling confused. A few minutes later, they arrived on the edge of a huge lake with a little group of boats with lanterns.

"All right, no more than 4 a boat!" Hagrid called.

"Come on, Sev!" Lily said excitedly, grabbing her friend and dragging him to a boat. They sat down and waited for the boats to move. The two boys from the train jumped in the boat and sat behind them. Lily shot them a glare. The first boy grinned at her.

"Ev'ry body in a boat? Right then, forward!" Hagrid yelled, sitting in his boat by himself. The group of boats suddenly began moving on their own after Hagrid. Lily sat happily, enjoying the feeling of the boat moving smoothly across the dark water, making her feel as if she were flying. Then they rounded a corner. Everyone gasped. A huge castle had appeared. It looked like a medieval castle, but had the air of something much older.

"Look at it!" Lily squealed. Severus was staring in awe and didn't hear her.

"Pretty cool," said the first boy from behind her.

The boats continued forward until they ended up in a small cavern. The first years (and Hagrid) got out of their boats and waited for instructions. Hagrid knocked on a wooden door and it was opened immediately by a witch with a sharp face and dark hair pulled into a tight bun.

"Here are the firs' years, pr'fessor McGonagall," Hagrid said, grinning.

"Thank you, Hagrid, you may go upstairs," the woman, professor McGonagall, said, nodding curtly. Hagrid walked inside and up the steps, leaving the first years in the cavern. "Now, I'm going to bring you upstairs. Once we get to the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses, which will be like family while you are here at Hogwarts. You will have classes with your house, eat with your house, and share dorms with others in your house. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin." A few kids began muttering about which house they wanted to be in, but were silenced by a glare from McGonagall. "Follow me." She led them up a few flights of stairs to an entry hall. They stopped outside a pair of huge doors, behind which, Lily assumed, must be the great hall. McGonagall stopped them and went inside for a moment. She returned and said, "its time." Then she pushed the doors all the way open and led the first years in. They walked down the center and stopped before the steps leading up to the teacher's table, in front of which was a three legged stool and an extremely old and patched wizard's hat. Lily stared at it in confusion for a moment before the hat suddenly burst into song.

_When I was just a plain old hat_

_Atop sir Gryffindor's head_

_The founders of this great old school_

_Discovered something of dread_

_They knew they four wouldn't live forever_

_In fact not long at all_

_But when they were gone who'd sort the students_

_And ensure the school didn't fall?_

_Sir Gryffindor then thought of something _

_An idea worthy of lady Ravenclaw_

_He pulled me off his head and said_

_To somewhat the other's awe_

_That after they'd gone I'd sort the students_

_Each by where they'd fit_

_Each to a house they'd surely do well in_

_One where they'd be a hit_

_The cleverest of course would go_

_To be a Ravenclaw student_

_The bravest only had one choice_

_To Gryffindor they went_

_Slytherin took just pureblood_

_With cunning minds like he_

_Hufflepuff took the rest_

_Who were loyal just like she_

_Now as you come to sit upon_

_The stool here under me_

_You'll put me on and I'll look inside_

_Your brains so I can see_

_To which house you will be put in_

_In which you'll be the best_

_So you can live and learn at Hogwarts_

_And pass every one of your tests!_

The hall burst into applause. The first years all looked a bit confused, but clapped anyway. McGonagall stepped forward, holding a long roll of parchment and picking up the hat. "When I call your name, please come and sit on the stool. I will place the hat on your head and you will be sorted." Then she looked at the list. "Black, Sirius!"

The second boy from the train walked up to the stool and sat, looking expectant. It took a moment, but the hat made its decision and announced it: "GRYFFINDOR!" Cheering broke out as Sirius grinned at walked happily to the Gryffindor table.

"Evans, Lily!"

The hat considered for a moment before yelling, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Snape looked shocked. He groaned as she sat down by Sirius and turned away from him.

A few other people joined Lily at the Gryffindor table including James Potter (the first boy from the train), Peter Pettigrew (one of the boys from the compartment), Remus Lupin (the fourth boy in the compartment), Alice Prewett, Frank Longbottom, Addison White, Chloe Scott, and Shelby Davis. Only about a dozen students were left to be sorted, included Snape.

Finally he was called. "Snape, Severus!"

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat yelled as soon as it touched his head. He looked happy, but at the same time, quite upset as he took a seat next to a tall boy with platinum blond hair and a prefect badge gleaming on his chest.

Lily ate her dinner happily, talking with the prefect, Emiline Walker, about classes. After she finished her dinner, desserts of all types appeared on the table. Lily happily ate until she felt like she might explode. Then Emiline and the other prefect, Robert Thomas, led the first years upstairs to the seventh floor.

Lily tried to stay near the prefects because since the sorting had ended, James had been attempting to talk to her.

"Hi, Lily!" he said, catching up with her. Lily sped up to get away from him.

"Hopeless cause, mate," said Sirius, walking beside James, shaking his head. "Should've picked an easier target."

"Ah, they're not as cute," James said, wrinkling his nose, which earned him a hard whack from Chloe Scott, who happened to be a cousin of his.

"Try to be a little quieter next time you decide to say rude things about the people around you," Chloe snapped before walking ahead of James and Sirius.

The prefects showed the first years around the common room and where their dorms were. After that, Lily had skipped happily into her room, glad to be escaping James and Sirius, who were still tormenting her. She quickly found the bed which had her belongings at the end of it and threw herself onto it. A moment later, the four other first years she was rooming with came in.

"We should get ready for bed," said one, yawning and collapsing onto her bed like Lily had. She had light brown hair and a round face with cheerful brown eyes.

"No! We have to get to know each other first!" said another, who had very blond hair and blue eyes.

"In the morning?" the brown haired girl pleaded.

"Breakfast in the morning, get to know each other now," the blond insisted. "I'm Addison White, but you can call me Addy."

"I'm Alice Prewett, now can I go to sleep?" asked the girl called Alice.

"No! You have to meet everyone!" Addison said.

"I'm Lily Evans."

"I'm Shelby Davis," said the girl with dirty blond hair and blue eyes.

"I'm Chloe Scott," said the girl with long black hair. She had hazel eyes and a happy face.

"Ok! So it's me, Alice, and Addy, Lily, Shelby, and Chloe," Alice said. "Bedtime!" She flung the covers over her.

"Fine, bedtime," grumbled Addy, getting out her pajamas and changing into them, as did all the other girls except Alice, who was already asleep in her robes.

"Night!" Lily said as she got into bed and fell asleep.

**A.N.:**

**Meh, the song was so super cheesy… If anyone has suggestions on how to make it less suck-ish please tell me. **

**Please review and tell me what you think!**

**-Naomi**


	3. 6am

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter… gosh**

Chapter 3

6am

The next morning, Lily was awoken at 6 am by Addy, whose alarm clock began singing a wake-up song.

"Ugh… it's too early," Lily complained.

"Time to get ready for classes!" Addy yelled, running around and shaking all the other 4 girls in the room.

"It doesn't take this long to get ready," moaned Shelby.

"Mmph," Alice agreed from under her covers where she was hiding.

"Yes it does! Choosing outfits, putting on make-up, doing hair –" Addy began to list out.

"We have to wear our robes! And we're 11, we don't wear make-up! And hair takes about 5 minutes to do!" protested Shelby.

Chloe jumped out of bed, though. "Are you kidding?" she asked. "You have to wear an outfit under your robes so that after class you can wear it. Hair does _not _only take 5 minutes, it takes at least 20! And you don't wear make-up? What's wrong with you?"

"I'm normal, what's wrong with you?" countered Shelby.

"Mmph," Alice said again.

Addy ran over and sat on Alice causing her to squeal. "Get up, lazy butt!" Addy said, standing up and jumping on the bed.

Chloe gasped. "Ooh! Fun!" she said, running over and joining Addy.

"Stop torturing Alice," Shelby said, sitting up and yawning. "She'll get up…"

Addy and Chloe stopped and got off. "Fine," Addy said. "But only because we need to get up Lily."

Lily jumped out of bed. "I'm up! No jumping!" she said, her green eyes over bright. Chloe and Addy laughed.

"You should see your face!" Addy said.

"Priceless!" Chloe agreed.

Lily scowled and opened her trunk. She pulled out her robes and a pair of old jeans and a loose t-shirt.

"Oh no, please don't tell me you're wearing _that _under your robes," Addy said. "It's hideous!"

"What?" Lily asked, looking at the clothes she'd gotten out.

"They're… horrid!" Chloe said, wrinkling her nose. "What else do you have?"

Lily slowly pulled out all her Muggle clothes and laid them on her bed. Every time she pulled out something new, Chloe and Addy would begin criticizing it.

"Don't you even care about how you look?" Addy asked in amazement.

"Not really," Lily answered truthfully, shrugging.

"What size are you?" Chloe demanded.

"Um –"

"Here! This will fit you!" Chloe exclaimed, pulling out a pair of gray jeans and a green tank top.

Lily looked at it disdainfully. "It's ok, I can just wear my stuff," she said.

"No. You're wearing this and that's that," Chloe said with a sense of finality. Lily sighed and took the clothes changing into them.

"It looks amazing on you!" Addy gasped.

"Uh," Lily looked down at herself in the jeans and tank.

"Keep them," Chloe said. "I look horrid in green and those jeans make me look fat." She looked at Lily's face and laughed. "They don't make you look fat and you look awesome in green, don't worry."

Lily sighed again. "Ok I guess. Thanks, Chloe," she said, pulling her robes over her clothing.

"Any time!" the girl sang, changing into black jeans and a white shirt. Then she slipped her school robes over them. "We can go shopping for you next chance we get, Lily. Get you some more awesome clothes."

"But I… don't have much money," Lily admitted.

"Uh, hello? I'm a pureblood, which means boatload of money! I have like, 2 vaults in Gringotts!" Chloe said, giving Lily a look that said something like shouldn't you know that? Addy nodded.

"Me, too," she said. "You have no idea."

"Yep, it's pretty cool," Chloe said popping the 'p.' "Problem is you're related to idiots. James Potter is like, my sixth cousin. So is Sirius. Well, he's more like my fifth cousin three times removed… but that's beside the point! We're still related. Addy's my first cousin."

"Really?" Lily asked, eyes widening.

Chloe and Addy nodded. "Yep! Cousins," Addy confirmed. "I think we may be distantly related to Alice…" She cast a glance at the motionless lump that was Alice. "… But I'm not sure."

"She's a pureblood, too?" Lily asked.

"She sure is," Chloe said, nodding.

"What about Shelby?" Lily asked.

"I'm half 'n half. My mum is a witch and dad is a Muggle, 'cept my dad has a brother who was a wizard, so he does have some magic blood," Shelby said as she stifled another yawn.

"Oh," Lily said, nodding in understanding.

"So," Chloe said. "We need to get moving! Alice, get your sorry bootie out of bed or I'll do it for ya!"

"Mmph," Alice said yet again.

"Is that the only thing you can say?" Addy asked exasperatedly.

"Mmph," Alice said, though she sounded close to laughing now.

"Get up!" Chloe demanded, walking over and throwing the covers off and dragging Alice off the bed. She landed on the floor with a thump.

"Ow!" Alice moaned.

"She spoke!" Shelby said in mock surprise.

"A miracle," Addy said, nodding gravely.

"It's still too early to be up," Alice grumbled, getting to her feet and rubbing her tailbone.

"You have to get dressed! 'Cause then its time for hair and make-up!" Addy said excitedly.

"Yeah!" Chloe said, bouncing up and down.

"By the end of the year, all of you will be wearing make-up daily and taking an hour in the bathroom for your hair every day," Addy said seriously.

"Is that supposed to be a good thing?" Shelby asked.

"Of course!" Chloe said.

"Now get dressed!" Addy said. Shelby hopped to it and changed into a blue v-neck and her robes while Alice dressed at her slowest pace, putting on sweats and an old t-shirt.

Chloe looked at Alice sadly. "I don't think you'll fit into my clothes," she said pensively. "So I'll just have to look through yours for something better." She tore through Alice's trunk until she found a pair of blue jeans and a shirt the exact color of her eyes. "Perfect! Put it on. Now." Alice changed, grumbling as she did so.

"Great!" Addy exclaimed. "We're finally all dressed. Time for hair and make-up!"

"I don't want to!" Shelby whined.

"Bummer," Chloe said, shrugging, as she shoved Shelby down onto a bed and began applying a small amount of eye shadow, blush, mascara, and lip gloss. When she was finished, Shelby looked like she belonged on a runway. "Gorgeous," Chloe said, beaming at Shelby. Then she moved on to herself, applying a generous amount of all her make-up.

Addy, meanwhile, had finished herself, Lily, and Alice. They all "looked like supermodels" as Addy had put it. Lily was gazing at herself in the mirror trying to figure out how Addy had made her look so good.

"Ok, time for hair!" Addy said.

"Can't we just do a ponytail?" Lily asked.

"Sure," Addy said. "But I get to do your ponytail."

"Fine," Lily agreed, handing Addy her brush.

Lily had no idea it could take so long to do a ponytail. Normally it took her about a minute to brush her hair and 30 seconds to pull it up. Addy took a ½ hour. She brushed her hair so thoroughly that Lily's hair looked like those of the girls in commercials with the hair so smooth it was scary. Then Addy pulled it back into a perfect ponytail, leaving a little hair out, which she straightened and left hanging. Then she stepped back. "Perfect," Addy said, skipping away to put her own hair into a curly blond ponytail. She did the same on Shelby. Alice just straightened her hair and left it down, protesting against Chloe the whole time. Chloe curled her dark hair and left it down except for a diamond clip on the right side of her head.

"We're awesome!" Chloe exclaimed. She looked at her watch. "Time for food!"

"I wonder if they have pie for breakfast…" Alice wondered aloud as the 5 girls left their dorm to go to breakfast.


	4. 6 Years Later

**Disclaimer: Again, I don't own Lily, James, Sirius, Lupin, Peter, Frank, Petunia, Alice, and all those people you've heard of before reading this story. I do own Shelby, Addy, and Chloe, but that's sort of beside the point…**

Chapter 4

6 Years Later

"Mum, I'm 17, don't worry about me!" Lily told her mother, who was fussing over her now 17 year old daughter who was about to board the Hogwarts Express for her 7th and final year at school before beginning her adult life. Petunia had been very angry when she had heard that Lily would be an adult before she would.

"Mum! She's human, too! She should be an adult at _18 _like the rest of the world!" she had complained.

"You turn 18 only a few weeks after she turns 17," her mother said. "Just calm down! It doesn't matter." Of course, Petunia hadn't taken that very well and Lily was pretty happy that she'd finally beat Petunia in something that her mind could understand.

Lily's past years at Hogwarts had been very similar to that first evening and morning – James bugged her endlessly (though now not just because of her _former_ friend Severus, but because he wanted to go out with her) and she and her roommates woke up at the break of dawn to get ready for school, resetting their alarm to 5am at the beginning of 6th year. It hadn't taken Chloe and Addy very long to convince Shelby, Alice, and Lily that the make-up, hair, and outfits they had helped them with on the first day were very important, and now Lily was just as obsessed with how she looked as her friends. Her classes had also gone well, Lily being the top of every class and getting an "O" on every test, quiz, and paper (except one, on which she got an "E" – she cried herself to sleep).

"I know you're 17 and fully capable of taking care of yourself," her mother said, "but I'm a mother and I always worry."

"I know," Lily said, sighing heavily. "I'll see you next summer!"

"What about Christmas?" her mother asked.

"Remember? I'm going to Chloe's place!" Lily answered.

"Oh, yes," her mother said a little sadly. "I'll see you next summer!"

Lily climbed on after waving to her mother and pulled her trunk down the corridor, looking for a compartment that was free. She was always the first of her friends on the train so the duty fell on her to find them a compartment. She found one within a few minutes and opened the door, heaving her things inside and into the luggage rack. She sat down by the window and sighed again. It was great to know she was on her way to Hogwarts again, where she could escape from all the bad things in her life…

Except one thing.

The door opened and there stood her one exception. James Potter. He grinned down at her. "Hello, Evans," he said.

"Go away, Potter," she told him angrily.

"Go out with me and I'll be gone in a heartbeat," he sang.

"You know my answer! Go away!" Lily half yelled.

"Yes? Oh, my lucky day!" James said jokingly.

"No, you idiot! GO AWAY!" Lily yelled. With that she shoved him away and shut the door. Then she collapsed into her seat again.

She had hated James Potter since she'd met him on her first train ride to Hogwarts. He had insulted her best friend (at the time) Severus Snape and been quite rude to her as well. Then he'd flirted with her the rest of the night. And the rest of the year. And the 5 years after that. He just never gave up. He asked her out every few hours and followed her in the halls.

Just then, Chloe and Addy came into the compartment.

"LILY!" Chloe cried, flinging herself at her friend.

"Chloe – can't – breathe – choking – me –" Lily stammered.

Chloe jumped backwards. "Sorry, Lils," she said, sitting beside her and letting Addy put their trunks away, shooting a smile at her as she did so.

"So, Lily, how was your summer?" Chloe asked.

"Let's talk about that once Shelby and Alice get here because I don't want to talk about it more than once," Lily answered, scrunching up her nose.

"That bad, huh?" Chloe questioned.

"Yep," Lily confirmed.

"Hey!" Shelby had arrived.

"Hey, Shel!" Addy said, grinning. She'd finally managed to get the things put away.

Shelby and Addy sat down and began to talk animatedly. Chloe looked at Lily. "They like to exclude us, don't they?" she said.

"They sure do," Lily said.

"Lily! Addy! Chloe! Shelby! I'm HERE!" Alice said from the doorway.

"Hi, Alice!" Lily said cheerfully.

"Time to talk about summers!" Chloe said. "Mine was fabulous. Addy and I went to Paris for a month and got new clothes for us and you guys plus all this designer make-up and stuff!" All 5 girls squealed in excitement. "I'll show you when we're in our dorm."

"The rest of the summer, Chloe and I stayed and the Potter's," Addy put in.

"It was horrible," Chloe said, her eyes widening.

"Did you know that he has a picture of you under his pillow?" Addy asked Lily.

"Eww," Lily said, wrinkling her nose.

"Yeah, I know, right?" Chloe said. "It's just… creepy."

"How'd he get a picture of me, anyway?" Lily asked.

"No idea," Addy said.

"Well, I went to Ireland for break," Alice said. "It's beautiful there."

"Is it as beautiful as Frank?" teased Shelby. Everyone in the school (or at least it felt that way) knew that Alice liked Frank Longbottom and that he liked her back, except for the pair of them.

Alice blushed. "W-well…" she muttered.

"My summer was horrible," Lily broke in, saving Alice the trouble of answering. "I was stuck with Petunia and her boyfriend. She kept bringing up that I was a freak and telling him that I went to some school that was so freakish that no one would ever date me." She rolled her eyes. "Petunia is _so _annoying."

Her friends nodded sympathetically. "Totally understand," Shelby said. "You guys haven't met my younger sister. She didn't get a letter and now she hates me."

"Sounds like Petunia," Lily said.

The compartment door slid open. Lily prepared to face James but was only faced by a kind middle aged witch pushing the sweets trolley.

"Anything sweets for you girls?" she asked kindly.

"We'll take 10 Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, Pumpkin Pasties, Sugar Quills, and 2 bars of Honeyduke's best chocolate," Chloe, getting the money to pay. The witch handed her the candies and took the gold before leaving the girls with their snacks.

The train pulled up to the school around dark, as usual. Lily and her friends brought their trunks and other belongings to the platform and left them to be brought up while they rushed off to get a carriage by themselves. They were delighted that they found an empty one and quickly claimed it. Right as the carriages were about to leave, 4 more people climbed in. The Marauders. Lily scowled as James took the seat right beside her and was forced to sit very close because there was no room.

"Must you sit there?" she snapped.

"Yes, I must," James said.

"Why don't you just leave me alone, Potter?"

"I will if you go out with me."

"No!"

Addy and Chloe exchanged a look.

The carriage began to move and it was too late to force them out. The girls sat back, Lily somewhat angrier than the others, and they waited for the carriages to get to the castle.

The boys climbed out first. James waited beside the carriage and offered Lily his hand to use for climbing out. She scowled and got out without his help. James shrugged and walked on beside her.

"Why won't you go out with me?" he asked her.

"Because, Potter, you're an annoying lunatic stalker. I heard you have a picture of me under your pillow," Lily snapped.

"Oh really, Evans?" James said, though he blushed a little.

"Yes, Potter."

"Yes, as in yes you'll go out with me?" James asked her.

"No! I won't go out with you!" Lily said irritably.

"Please?"

"I've been telling you the same answer since we were first years! NO!" Lily told him, now quite angry.

James stopped walking by her. He let her go a little while before starting to walk again, more slowly and sadly. Chloe, Addy, Alice, and Shelby all passed by him. Only Chloe acknowledged him.

"Move on, cuz. She doesn't like you! Find another gal. She's a rare catch; only one person'll ever get her. Obviously its not you." Chloe then skipped off to join her friends, not making James feel any better. He slouched into the hall and sat by Sirius who gave him a questioning look, but said nothing.

**A.N.:**

**How was it? I hope it was ok. I know I skipped a whole ton of years... I just wanted a brief introduction to Lily's life and everything (and I felt like writing that, though I almost changed my mind when I realized I would have to compose a song for that darn sorting hat). If I have any complaints I can go back and write more chapters to add in, or write another story containing those years. I just wanted to skip to a time when there would actually be something happening between Lily and James. **

**Please read and review! I need reviews! I'd like just one and I'll be very happy. More than that and I'll guarentee at least 2 chapters by the end of the week!**

**-Naomi**


	5. Schedules

Chapter 5

Schedules

"LILY! Time to wake up, silly sleepy head!" chimed Chloe, prodding Lily's lifeless form.

"Mmph," moaned Lily from under her covers.

"You sound like Alice," Chloe commented. "Look like her, too. She's usually the one hiding under the covers 'mmph'ing."

"Mmph!" grunted Alice from under her own covers.

"I'm getting up," groaned Lily, slowly pushing the covers off from over her.

"Good, because it's already 5:15 and it's your turn to shower," Addy said, emerging from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head, fully dressed in her blue skinny jeans and a white t-shirt with a low-cut gray tank over it.

Lily got out of her bed and waddled to her trunk, pulling out a pair of jeans and a short sleeved green t-shirt and her towel. Then she proceeded to waddle to the bathroom, shower, dress, and brush out her wet hair. She grabbed her wand off her bedside table and muttered a spell causing her wand to spew hot air which she used to dry out her hair. Then she brushed it again and pulled it into a neat ponytail. She grabbed her make-up bag and put a small amount on, not overdoing it like Chloe and Addy so often did. Then she sat down on her bed. Alice was still motionless in her bed, hiding from Chloe and Addy. Shelby was emerging from the bathroom, fully dressed.

"So Shelby," Lily said, turning to face her as she sat on her own bed. "What classes do you have this year? What did you ask for?"

"Transfiguration, charms, potions, astronomy, all that stuff. I didn't bother with care of magical creatures. Last year it was so unbelievably boring," Shelby said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah," Lily said, nodding. "I would understand that. Professor McCarthy is the most boring person on earth."

"Worse than Binns!" Shelby said, eyes widening. "And he's a _ghost_!"

"So what else are you taking?" Lily continued.

"Arithmancy, of course," Shelby said. "I think it's the best subject offered."

Lily nodded in agreement. "I love that class."

"Defense against the dark arts and ancient runes are my last two," Shelby finished. "Muggle studies are pointless for me to take, being as I come from a half Muggle family, and divination is the stupidest subject there ever was-"

"Divination isn't stupid!" Addy said, sounding appalled. "It's the best subject offered!"

"No it isn't! It's totally stupid! _Gaze into the crystal ball, see your future! _I mean, seriously!" Shelby said, looking at Addy like she was insane.

Addy looked highly affronted. "Obviously Professor Parnell was right," she sniffed.

"That I don't have the _seeing eye_?" Shelby laughed. "Thank goodness."

Addy scowled at her friend and went back to her talk with Chloe about her new boyfriend.

"Anyway, what are you taking, Lily?" Shelby asked.

"Charms, Arithmancy, ancient runes, defense against the dark arts, potions, history of magic, and transfiguration," Lily answered. "I can't wait to get my schedule later today!"

"I know, right?" Shelby said. "The only thing I'm _not _excited about is the homework. I asked one the seventh year's right after the end of term feast and they said that we have so much homework it's not even funny."

"We'll manage," Lily said, shrugging.

"You'll manage, you mean," Chloe said, eyes wide. "Last year I almost failed a few classes because of all the homework. And that was in sixth year! It supposed to get worse!"

"You can do it," Lily insisted. "I'm sure it won't be that hard-"

"For you," Addy said. "You're like, super smart and stuff. You can do anything. You're like, the smartest girl in school."

Lily blushed. "Well…" she muttered.

"Don't deny it," Shelby warned. "It's totally true."

"Thanks," muttered Lily embarrassedly.

"Let's stop talking about this before we give Lily the idea she's more special that all of us," Chloe said jokingly. "Is Alice up yet?" She glanced at Alice's bed.

"Mmph," Alice grunted.

"Obviously not," Addy said, looking at Alice as well.

"Whose turn to jump on her is it?" Chloe asked.

"Mine!" Lily said, leaping up and running to the bed where she began bouncing excitedly.

"I'm up!" shrieked Alice as she rolled out of her bed and hit the floor with a thud.

"Woopsie daisies," Lily said, smiling down at Alice sweetly.

Alice sighed. "What time is it?" she asked.

"6:30," answered Addy after looking at her hot pink watch.

"Oh," Alice said, rubbing her eyes and getting to her feet. "I guess I should get ready."

"We should finish getting ready so we can be the first at breakfast," suggested Chloe. "If we get there first they may have doughnuts or something." Alice looked as if someone had put fire under her feet as she showered, dressed, did her hair, and put on make-up at top speed, being ready by 7. The five girls crept down the steps and through the common room quietly. Once they emerged from behind the portrait of the fat lady that marked the edge of the Gryffindor section, they relaxed a bit. Until they rounded a corner at ran right into James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

"Hey!" shrieked Lily as James plowed into her, knocking her to the ground and falling on top of her. "Get off me!"

James grinned. "Go out with me?" he asked her.

"Ugh, no," Lily said, shoving him off and getting up.

"Why are you guys up so early?" Shelby asked, backing away from Sirius, who was eying her in a way that made her rather uncomfortable.

"We could ask you the same question," Remus retorted.

"We're on our way to breakfast," Lily answered him. "You obviously aren't, seeing as you're heading towards the common room. It doesn't seem likely that you're doing something innocent either, being as you ran us over as we came around a corner."

"Told you that you were the smart one. Only you could've figured that out," Chloe told Lily, who blushed.  
"Once again, Evans is correct," James said, flashing a cocky smile at her.

"Shut up, Potter," Lily snapped.

"So you're not on your way not breakfast and you're not doing something innocent," Addy said. "So what are you doing?"

"That, Miss White, isn't any of your business," Sirius said, grinning at his cousin.

"May not be hers, but it is mine," Lily said, stepping forward. "I'm head girl."

"And I'm head boy," James added.

"Shut up, Potter," Lily repeated.

"As you wish, milady," James said mockingly.

Lily scowled. "Are you going to answer me?" she demanded.

"Our lips are sealed," Sirius said, grinning mischievously.

"10 points from Gryffindor," Lily said immediately.

"You're docking points from your own house!" Peter squeaked.

"You're not answering my question and I have the ability to do so," Lily said, raising her chin in a sense of finality.

"It looks like we'll have to tell her," James said in a mock-defeated tone.

"Oh yes, it looks like Evans has finally bested the Marauders," Sirius added, trying to look downcast, but barely holding back a smile.

"We'll just go back to the common room now," Remus added, and they slipped off before anyone could say anything.

For a moment, Lily looked pleased with herself, but a moment later, she looked furious. "They just slipped off! Without telling me what they were up to!" she said angrily.

"Its fine, Lily," Alice said, patting her on the shoulder consolingly.

"No it isn't! They got the better of me!" Lily half shouted.

"Let's go to breakfast!" Chloe said, pulling Lily forward in an attempt to get her mind off the boys. Lily let herself be brought downstairs to the entry hall and then the Great hall, where a few students sat at the house tables, feasting on the breakfast laid out.

"Look, they have doughnuts!" Alice said, pointing at a tray of doughnuts on the Gryffindor table. Lily seemed to forget about getting bested by the Marauders as she saw the doughnuts. She grinned and sat down, taking a large cream-filled one and putting it onto her plate. She grabbed a piece of toast and a few slices of bacon as well and began to eat. Around 7:30, a steadier trickle of students began to filter into the Great Hall, including James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, who sat down across from the girls. Lily remembered the events of earlier that morning and fixed a scowl onto her face.

"Why do you have to sit here?" she asked them rather bluntly.

"Because, Evans, we want to and we can," replied James in a sugary voice.

"Whatever, Potter," Lily said, frowning.

"Miss Evans, here is your schedule," said a sharp voice from behind her. Lily turned and saw Professor McGonagall who was holding a stack of parchment. She handed one to Lily. "Miss Prewett, Miss White, Miss Davis, Miss Scott…" She riffled through the papers, finding the other four girl's schedules and giving handing them over. Then she found the four schedules for James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus. She then moved on down the table to finish handing out the schedules to the students in Gryffindor.

"What's your first class, Lily?" Shelby asked, examining her schedule.

"Transfiguration," Lily answered. "Then potions."

"Same," Shelby said, beaming.

"I have potions with you guys, but I have divination first," Addy said, looking at her own schedule.

"I can't believe you're taking divination," Shelby said, shaking her head.

"I am, too!" Chloe said, frowning.

"You two are just insane to want to be anywhere _near _Professor Parnell," Alice said, wrinkling her nose.

"She's amazing!" Addy persisted.

"She's so annoying," Lily said.

"Whatever," Addy said. "Please keep your opinions about my favorite teacher to yourself."

"Did you guys say you have transfiguration first?" Sirius asked casually.

"Yeah," Shelby said, dreading what he was going to say.

"Great! So do I!" Sirius said, punching a fist into the air. Shelby groaned and buried her face in her hands.

"I do, too," James said as he looked at his schedule.

"As do I," Remus said.

"I have divination," Peter said. "I hate divination!"

"Why're you taking it then?" Alice asked.

"I don't know!" Peter whimpered.

"Well," Chloe said. "Addy and I are heading to the common room to get out stuff before class."

"We'll come, too," Lily said, pulling Alice and Shelby up.

"Let's go," Addy said, and the girls left the Great Hall.

**A.N.:**

**I got two reviews! Thank you SO MUCH to SecretMarauderette and rubydo9592! I'll keep your suggestions in mind for my writing. **

**I'll keep my promise and have a second chapter up by probably tomorrow (maybe even later tonight if you're lucky) and since I got two reviews, maybe a third chapter – I'll do my best. **

**Keep up the reviewing and reading! Thank you for your support!  
**

**-Naomi**


	6. Chat in the Common Room

Chapter 6

Chat in the Common Room

Once they had arrived in the dormitory, the girls began to get their things together. Lily pulled out her forest green shoulder bag and began putting in her textbooks for potions, history of magic and transfiguration. She also put in parchment, an ink well, and 2 quills (just in case). Around 8 o'clock, the girls were ready to go to class, but the bell didn't ring until 9.

"What do we do now?" Lily wondered aloud as they walked down to the common room and took up the 5 seats by the empty fire grate. "We have an hour to do absolutely nothing!"

"Enjoy it," Chloe said, taking a bite out of a cauldron cake she had saved from the day before.

"How am I supposed to enjoy being bored for an hour? Why couldn't we have a free hour after transfiguration, potions, or history of magic? I'll need it then for homework!" Lily complained.

"Because you're lucky. We have an hour free that we don't have to do homework in!" Chloe said.

"But we're going to have so much homework! I'm sure McGonagall will set us an essay! And professor Slughorn will make us do an impossibly hard potion and then do an essay about it! And Professor Binns –"

"Stop worrying!" Shelby told Lily. "You're giving me a headache."

"But –"

"Just be quiet for a little," begged Shelby.

Lily was silent for about 10 minutes before she began talking about how much homework they'd have once more.

"Already talking about homework?" asked an amused voice from behind the girls. Lily spun around and saw the Marauders grinning down at them.

"Go away," Lily said.

"Go out with me?" asked James.

"No!"

"C'mon, just give me a try," James persisted.

"I said _no!"_

"Just one date."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Why?"

"'Cause you're annoying as heck!" Lily answered, flinging a pillow at him. It hit him in the face and he stumbled backwards.

"Why do you hate me so much?" complained James.

"I already answered that," Lily growled in a menacing tone.

"Mate, just give up already," Sirius told James in an undertone.

"I can't," James said, rubbing his nose (she'd thrown the pillow pretty hard).

"Whatever," Sirius said. "I think you should just move on. You've been trying to get her since you first met her on the very first day we were here and you're having just as much luck as then. None."

"Gee, thanks, mate," James snapped. He walked up to the boy's dormitory, followed closely by Peter and Remus. Sirius shrugged.

"He's a stubborn one," Sirius told the girls.

"Think we hadn't noticed?" Lily asked him.

Sirius turned away and walked upstairs without saying anything else.

"Nice job, Lils," Chloe told her friend quite seriously.

Lily turned to Chloe. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Hitting him with that pillow? Epic." Chloe laughed. "I hope you broke his nose."

**A.N.:**

**You people are… sort of lucky**

**I just made this a short chapter because I wanted to have another little conflict between them (its fun to make them fight… I know it sounds sort of twisted, but it's kind of funny). **

**I can now guarantee at least one more chapter this week, most likely 2 or 3 more **** and they won't be this short (this is unusual)**

**SecretMarauderette – thank you for the review! You rock!**

**Thanks people! **

**-Naomi**


	7. The Project

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter**

Chapter 7

The Project

An hour later, Lily, Alice, and Shelby all marched obediently to transfiguration class. Chloe and Addy had happily gone to their divination class, followed by Peter (who still got lost on his way up and needed assistance). James, Sirius, and Remus were also on their way to transfiguration and were pestering the girls as they went.

"Just one date, Evans?"

"No."

"We can go to the Three Broomsticks next Hogsmeade trip."

"No."

"You'll be going anyway, just instead of sitting with Shelby and Alice you'll sit with me!"

"No."

"Please –"

"What don't you get about 'no'?" Lily finally exploded as they reached the transfiguration doorway. McGonagall looked up from her papers and gave Lily a reproachful look over the top of her glasses.

"Miss Evans, will you please contain yourself," Professor McGonagall asked her.

Lily blushed scarlet. "Yes, professor," she muttered before scooting off to her normal seat in the front of the classroom. Shelby cast James and Sirius a nasty look before following Lily and taking a seat to her left. Alice looked around the classroom for a moment before spotting Frank Longbottom, whom she had been dating since the beginning of 6th year, and skipped over happily to take the seat beside him.

Sirius looked at James. "I still say you should move on," he informed him.

"Shut up," James muttered, walking to a seat behind Lily and sitting down.

After transfiguration (in which they did mostly reviewing and then were assigned an essay that had to be at least 2 rolls of parchment long), Lily and her friends went to potions. Alice, once again, sat with Frank, so Shelby and Lily took the desk that had room for only 2 people. To Lily's dismay, James and Sirius took the table right beside theirs.

"Attention! Quiet please, the bell has rung!" Professor Slughorn said, standing in the center of the room. The students fell silent and listened intently. "Now, since you are all 7th years, I have decided that you are all ready for a project."

"But it's the first day of school!" protested Sirius, his eyes wide.

"Yes, m 'boy, it is the first day of school," Slughorn boomed. "And I find that the first day is always an excellent day for bestowing projects upon students!" Everyone in the room groaned. "Now! Partners will be as follows…" He pulled a piece of parchment from his coat pocket and began reading it aloud. "Sirius Black and Shelby Davis!"

"What?" Shelby protested eyes wide. "No! I can't work with him!"

"Gee, thanks," Sirius said.

"Lily Evans and James Potter."

"Oh no," Lily said, jaw dropping.

"Oh yes," James said, grinning.

"Yes is right, Mr. Potter, 10 points to Gryffindor for being cheerful about the project!" Slughorn applauded. He continued reading the pairs of the paper, but Lily hardly noticed. She was glaring at James, who was grinning at her from the next table, looking very pleased with himself.

"Attention, please! You need to find out what the project is," he reminded them. "You and your partner will be concocting 2 potions from your text book. Any two! You have 1 month to finish them, though if you choose one that takes longer to brew, I may make allowances. Now, pair up and begin planning!" Slughorn strode over to his desk, whistling in a cheerful manor.

Shelby, who looked almost as grumpy as Lily, stood up and stalked over to take James' seat, as he had just left the table to join Lily.

"So, what shall we be making, Evans?" he asked sweetly.

"Nothing with you," Lily retorted.

"Hmm, well, that's too bad," James said, "because if you don't make something with me we'll both get a 'T' for sure." At this Lily looked up, eyes round with shock and anger.

"Fine," she snapped, "but you have to help, not just laze around like the bum you are." She pulled out her book and began flipping through; looking at the different potions they could choose.

"Have you decided yet?" James asked after about 5 minutes.

"I think we should do Veritiserum," Lily told him.

"Why not?" James agreed. "Sure, we'll make that. But what else?"

"Not sure yet," Lily admitted.

"We could always do the confusing concoction."

"That's for 3rd years!"

"It's confusing, though!"

"It takes about an hour to make, tops."

"We'll have it done and out of the way.

"No! It's far too simple!"  
"No, it isn't."

"Yes it is. Proof? It's not in this book."

"Poly juice potion isn't in that book."

"Because it's a forbidden potion."

"But its not it the book."

"Just shush for a moment, Potter, or is that impossible for you?" James was quiet immediately, something Lily found interesting. James _never _did what people told him. Why was he listening to her? She absent-mindedly flipped through the book until she found the recipe for Felix Felicis.

"Let's do this!" Lily said.

James looked at it. "That's worse than the confusing concoction," he muttered.

"It's supposed to be," Lily said irritably. "Now let's get to work!" She began looking at the ingredients they'd need for both potions and then said, "Potter, go ask Slughorn for these ingredients," she pointed to a few on the lists, "and I'll start getting the other things ready."  
"Can't I get the things ready?" James asked in mock disappointment.

"Just go!" Lily told him. She seemed ready to explode.

An hour later, the bell rang to let them out of class. Lily and James had successfully begun both potions, which were now bubbling happily in the closet. Slughorn had performed an enlarging charm on an empty closet in the classroom and conjured tables inside it so the seventh years could put their cauldrons out of the way for the other classes.

"So Lily, how're yours and James' potions going?" Shelby asked as they walked out of the dungeon.

"Great," Lily said. "James is getting on my last nerves, though."

"You're lucky," Shelby told her friend.

"Lucky?" Lily said, staring at Shelby as if she'd just said the most shocking thing she'd ever heard in her life. "To be partnered with _James_?"

"Yup," Shelby said, looking grim. "I'm with Sirius. He already ruined the amortentia we were starting. Didn't you see him blow up the cauldron?"

"Oh, that was him?" Lily said, giggling.

"Yeah," Shelby said regretfully. "So now we have one ok potion and one that was literally bombed by Sirius."

"Did I hear my name?" Sirius asked as he caught up with the two girls.

"None of your business," Shelby retorted, shoving Sirius away from them.

"Pushy, pushy, Miss Davis," James said, shaking his head. "I may have to take away 5 points from Gryffindor."

Shelby stared at James in disbelief. "What?" she shrieked, enraged. "You two do things like that all the time! And you never take points off for that!"

"That's because we're doing it," James said as if it were obvious.

Lily scowled. "C'mon Shelby, let's go before Sirius explodes the hallway, too," she said, loud enough for the boys to hear, then dragging Shelby away.

**A.N.:**

**9 reviews! YAY! I love you guys…**

**SecretMarauderette: nope, I'm posting as I write… except for the first 3 chapters (I wrote those on Tuesday and Wednesday and posted on Wednesday… the rest are one at a time). I'm definitely keeping that suggestion in mind… I think I'll use that in a few chapters… I have an idea for that **

**LIZIES: You're ideas are pretty good. I like the first one a lot… can you tell? **** I just changed the class the project is in. I may use your second idea as well.**

**XTomMarvoloRiddleX: I may do one from his perspective. I probably will, just so we can get what he's thinking as well instead of Lily, Lily, and more Lily. **

**hprules: thanks… I think that's my favorite part so far in my story… I don't know if people say "epic" in England very often, but I know that my friends and I use it so often its not even funny… and it came to mind as I was writing, so I had to add it (now that was a run-on sentence if ever I've seen one…)**

**lubz: why thank you**

**Thank you to everyone! You people are THE BEST ever. Maybe aim for 10 reviews by the time I post chapter 8? Yes? No? It'd be much appreciated.**

**Just noting: I started seminary today. It begins at 6:15 and ends at 7:05 AM so I have to wake up at 5:30am to get ready and be there on time. PLUS my high school starts next week (AHHH) so I'm sorry if the amount of chapters I get out is a little slower. I'm not going to be as busy with sports though – I have this thing called Osgood Schlotter in my knees from soccer so I'm out for 3 weeks which adds a bit more time devoted to writing…**

**I'll post ASAP!**

**-Naomi**


	8. The Dare

Chapter 8

The Dare

Later that night, after most people had returned from dinner, Lily, Shelby, Alice, Chloe, and Addy sat in their chairs around the fire grate.

"I'm so bored!" Chloe complained loudly.

"Do your homework, then!" Lily suggested as she scribbled the last few words in her transfiguration essay before setting it aside and beginning on her History of Magic.

"That's boring, too," Chloe said, looking at Lily. "You're the only one who can sit and do all their homework without getting bored."

"No I'm not!" Lily said. "Alice and Shelby are, too!"

"But I'm sure they're bored out of their minds," Chloe pointed out.

"How do you know I'm not?" Lily defended herself.

"Because I know you, Lily," Chloe answered simply. "I have since first year."

Lily sighed. "I guess you're right," she said.

"As always," Chloe said with a grin.

"Why don't we play a game?" suggested Addy, who had been staring blankly out the window.

"Ooh, good idea!" Chloe said, sitting up straight.

"Exploding snap?" suggested Shelby, putting her homework away.

"Nah, I don't like that game," Addy said.

"We could play wizards chess," Lily added.

"Too scary," Chloe said with a shiver. "Marble people smashing each other?" She shivered again. "Creepy!"

"We could play truth or dare," Alice said with a grin, setting her homework aside as well.

"Ooh! Yes oh yes!" Chloe said, clapping her hands excitedly. Lily laughed; she looked so childish doing that it reminded her of their first year.

"Yeah! Let's play truth or dare!" Addy agreed.

"Sure, _I_ guess," Shelby said. "Anything beats homework."

"Ok," Lily agreed with a heavy sigh.

"Yay!" Chloe exclaimed. "Who's first?"

"Me!" Addy said at once.

"Truth or dare?" Chloe asked her.

"Truth," Addy answered.

"Hmm… who was your first crush?" Chloe asked.

"Are you kidding?" Addy asked.

"Sorry, I'm drawing a blank!"

"Markus Thompson, duh!"

"Whatever," Chloe said, rolling her eyes.

"Ok, I choose who's next," Addy said, grinning. "Hmm, Alice, truth or dare?"

"Um, dare," Alice replied.

"I dare you to…" Addy said, thinking hard. Then Frank Longbottom entered the room. "I dare you to go and kiss Frank!"

"Pshhh," Alice said, waving her hand as she got up. "Easy!" She walked up and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"I meant his mouth, Alice!" Addy informed her.

"You didn't state it in the dare though," Alice said.

"Whatever," Addy said, scowling.

"My turn, then!" Alice said. "Shelby, truth or dare?

"Dare."

"I dare you to tell Sirius he's funny."

"What?" Shelby yelped. "No! I can't –"

"Oh, yes you can!" Alice said, looking very happy with herself.

"Well, I can't because he's not here," Shelby protested.

"Next time you see him, then," Alice compromised.

"Fine," Shelby grumbled, not very happy with what she had to do. "Lily, truth or dare?"

"Dare," Lily said, smiling. "I'm feeling adventurous."

"I dare you to slide down the railing all the way from here to the first floor," Shelby said, her frown gone, replace by a mischievous grin.

"What?" Lily said, shocked. "I can't do that! I'll fall! I'll hurt myself! I –"

"Said you wanted to do a dare," Shelby reminded her.

"But –"

"No buts about it," Alice trilled.

"Let's go!" Addy said, pushing Lily out of her chair and toward the exit. She directed her through and down the halls until they reached the main stairwells.

"They move," Lily groaned. "And they're high. And they're small –"

"Shut up and do it," Chloe said, pushing Lily toward a banister.

"Please –"

"No!"

Lily looked miserably at the banister. Then back at her friends. "Can I ask my truth or dare first?" she questioned.

"Sure," Addy said, shrugging.

"It's for all of you," Lily said. "Truth or dare?"

"I say dare," Chloe said.

"Me, too," Addy, Alice, and Shelby agreed.

"Ok, I dare all of you to slide down the banister with me," Lily said, grinning.

"No!" Chloe said. "You tricked us!"

"You fell for it," Lily said.

"Let's go!" Alice said happily, pushing her friends to the railing.

They all sat on the rail and scooted to the very edge where it began to dip downwards. "Ready?" Addy asked them all.

"No," squeaked Lily in a terrified voice.

"Go!" Alice squealed, pushing them downwards. Lily shrieked as the floors whizzed by, Chloe and Addy were hugging each other tightly, swaying back and forth, and trying to stay on the banister. Alice was squealing with joy, and Shelby was hiding her face in her hands, telling herself, "its ok… its ok… its ok…"

Lily looked down and saw the end. She let out a sigh of relief and turned away again. She expected to just fall onto the ground with her friends atop her, but instead, she hit something rather softer than she'd expect the marble floor to be. Something that let out an "oof!" as she rammed into it.

Lily lay dazed on top of the thing she'd hit at the bottom of the steps with Addy, Shelby, Chloe and Alice on top of her. The world was spinning around her. She could only hear Alice giggling hysterically and Shelby saying "I think I'm gonna be sick." After a moment she felt the weight lift from on top of her as her friends stood up. She shook her head to clear the fuzz and looked down.

She gasped. She was lying atop James Potter in the middle of the entry hall. She got to her feet quickly and backed away. James sat up on the floor, rubbing his back.

"I – you – hit – banister – on top – oh no!" Lily stuttered, looking horrorstruck.

"Well, it seems that I had a very inaccurate image of you, Evans," Potter said. "Never thought you'd do that."

"I wouldn't have if I wasn't forced to," Lily snapped, glaring at her friends.

"I'm sure they didn't _force _you to do anything; it's near impossible to force you into something, Evans," James teased.

"It's not impossible for them, Potter, only for you," Lily retorted hotly. With this, Lily turned and stalked upstairs leaving her friends and the boys along with a few curious onlookers behind her.

"She's got a fiery temper, doesn't she?" one boy about 4th year commented.

"Let's go," Chloe muttered to Shelby, Addy, and Alice before casting the boy a dark look and following Lily upstairs.

**A.N.:**

**Not as much success with that chapter. Sigh… still at 9 reviews.**

**Please review? I may be able to get another chapter up by the end of the day if you do… **

**-Naomi**


	9. My Fault

**Disclaimer: Belongs to J.… I'm just you're average (or not-so-average) obsessed fan.**

Chapter 9

My Fault

"Lily? You in here?" asked Chloe, entering their dormitory rather nervously.

"Go away," came Lily's muffled reply from under the covers in her bed.

"Don't be upset," Addy told her. "Its not your fault James was at the bottom of the railing and you happened to be the first one to fly off and land on top of him."

"Gee, Addy, really comforting," Alice snapped at her friend.

"It's all my fault that I agreed to do the dare!" Lily wailed, emerging. "I shouldn't have done it! I'm head girl. I'm supposed to be a role model for the other students! Now I look like a dare-devil like every other idiot in the school. Everyone slides down the banister and ends up falling on the one person they don't want to be near. I should've known James would be at the bottom!"

"It's not your fault, Lily," Shelby said.

"Yes it is!" Lily protested, wiping away her tears angrily. "It's so predictable that someone would slide down the railing and land on someone. It happens in every book and it happens to everyone! Except it shouldn't have happened to me because normally I'm not so stupid as to take dares like that."

"It isn't your fault, Lily, its mine. I dared you to slide down the banister," Shelby said apologetically. "I'm really sorry."

"Don't be; it's my fault not yours," Lily said again, sounding bitter.

"Oh, just shut up, Lily! It's not your fault you landed on James, the fault is his, and it's all of our faults that we slid down!" Addy burst out.

The room fell silent. Lily looked at Addy with round eyes, her tears stopping. Shelby, Alice, and Chloe all looked at her in amazement.

After a few minutes, Addy finally spoke again. "Please stop staring at me," she told them, a pout on her pale face. Then they all started laughing.

James flung himself onto his bed with a grunt. "I'm so stupid," he told himself.

"You can say that again," Sirius commented with a nod, taking a seat on a corner of the mattress.

"Why did you move into the way?" Remus asked his friend, sitting down as well. "I mean, you seriously ran over into the path of where the girls were going to fall."

James hesitated. "Well…"

"Oh, c'mon mate!" Sirius complained. "Spit it out."

"I didn't want Lily to be on the floor with all the other 4 on top of her. She'd have probably really hurt herself," James admitted, and then he hid his face in his pillow.

The room was silent. Then, "you did it to protect her?" Remus asked.

"Prongs, you really got it bad," Sirius said grimly.

"I know," James grumbled, sitting up.

"I don't understand what you like about her so much," Sirius continued. "She's so obviously not interested in you."

"I know! But she's… so…" James trailed off.

"She's what? Evil?" Sirius suggested.

"No!" James looked highly offended.

"Then what?" Sirius asked exasperatedly.

"She's so stubborn, willful," James started.

"You like that?" Sirius said, scrunching up his nose in disgust.

"I don't know," James sighed. "I can't explain it."

"O…k…" Sirius sat down on his own bed. "Is that your whole answer?"

"I don't know how to say it!" James answered.

There was a short silence. Then, "Well, that sums it up pretty well, doesn't it?" Sirius said, clapping his hands and standing up. "Anyhow, I think we'd best go downstairs. Can't afford to miss out on any fun that Wormy's having downstairs!" With that, Sirius left the dormitory.

"I'm going to go make sure Sirius doesn't make a complete idiot of himself," Remus said, also getting up. "Or at least more of an idiot than he already is." Remus walked calmly out, leaving James lying miserably on his bed.

**A/N:**

**I'm soooo sorry it took so long. If I took the time to explain why it'd take too long. Just remember that I started high school and seminary, my grandma died, went on vacation, and had midterms. Plus everything else. **

**I swear I'll try to do better! It's one of my new year's resolutions – finish this story (or at least post more often).**

**Thanks for still reading (if I have any readers left)**

**-Naomi**


	10. The Beginnings of Change

_**Disclaimer: don't own hp or jkr or any of that...**_

Chapter 10

The Beginnings of Change

"Lily, you're a mess!"

"Mmph," Lily said, waddling towards the bathroom. Her hair stuck out in every which way, her face was red and blotchy. Her normally bright green eyes seemed a bit dull and she walked a bit hunched over. She went inside and shut the door without another word (or sound). Her roommates looked at each other.

"She doesn't seem like herself," Addy commented.

"Yah think?" Alice said, giving her friend a look.

"What?" Addy asked, slightly confused.

"We know she's a bit messed up today," said Chloe quietly.

"Why?" Addy asked.

"Because of last night. But I'm not completely sure of what about it is bothering her," Alice said. A few minutes later, Lily emerged, looking slightly better. She was dressed in her robes and she had brushed her hair, but the makeup on her face had no effect on making her normally very pretty face and less miserable or tired.

"Lils," Alice said. "Maybe you should stay in bed today."

"No!" Lily said, giving her friend a sharp look. "I have to go to class." She sniffed as she packed her bag and left the dorm. Alice sighed in defeat.

"Prongs, don't look now, but a certain redhead's coming this way!" whispered Sirius in a mocking voice.

James, who had been miserably eying his toast for the last 10 minutes, jumped and turned to see Lily walking towards him. She had purple bags under her eyes and her eyes looked sad. Her whole countenance, normally full of energy (whether good or bad), was now dull and sad.

"Evans!" he said, standing up and greeting her. "What's up with you?"  
"I'm just saying sorry for last night," Lily said. "For landing on top of you."

"It's no big deal," James said, nervously messing with his hair.

"So, I'm sorry," Lily said awkwardly. "Bye." She began to walk away. James looked helplessly at his friends. Sirius pointing at Lily and mouthed "follow her." James sprang forward.

"Evans!" he said, quickly catching her. "Can I, uh, walk you to class?"

"I don't care," Lily said, staring straight ahead with unseeing eyes. James, amazed at this turn of attitude, just happily walked along side her.

"So, ah, Lily," James said. "Do you actually not hate me right now, or is something really wrong that it's messing with your brains?" She didn't answer. "Uh, well, I'm sorry about last night, too." She remained silent. "I didn't mean to be at the end of the banister." A pause. "Well, maybe I did mean to be there. I didn't want you to fall on the floor with everyone on top of you. You would've gotten hurt. Really, if it made you that mad I wouldn't have done it, or maybe I would've, but-"

"You went there to stop me from getting hurt?"

James stopped. "Are you really mad? I'm sorry, I shouldn't force myself –"

"You were protecting me." Lily looked up at him, confused. "Why would you do that?"

"Because," James said, looking at Lily. "Because… I just couldn't let you get hurt. I just… I… I…" He couldn't bring himself to say the words, but he looked up at her, hoping that she knew what he couldn't say.

"What? James, you what?" Lily asked.

"I… did you just call me James?"

"I… no!" Lily said, looking appalled. "I…I…I said Potter!"

"You said James! You called me by my first name!"

"No I didn't!" With that, Lily ran off.

_**Author's Note: **_

_**There. Another chapter. Hope it isn't super suckish. Please review. I'll try to get another out tomorrow but NO PROMISES.**_

_**-Naomi**_


	11. Or Not

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything to do with it. Mostly. Joking, I don't own any of it *sobs***_

Chapter 11

Or Not

Lily didn't stop running until she reached her dormitory. She sat down on her bed, panting hard. Her mind, along with her heart, was racing. What had she been thinking? She actually called him James! _Lily, you idiot! Now he'll think you like him!_ She smacked her forehead for her stupidity. _Maybe I do like him,_ she thought. Then she whacked herself on the head again. _Of course I don't like him! James is the stupidest, most arrogant, cocky idiot in the whole school!_

"Lily?" Alice emerged from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her head. "Is that you?"

"Yeah," Lily said.

"You look worse than you did when you woke up," Alice told her shamefully. "I cannot have you go around like that if you'll insist on going to class."

"Give me a sec, I just ran up here from the first floor," Lily told her friend, flopping backwards.

Alice laughed. "And why on earth would you do that? Though I would've loved to be there. I never really have seen you run…"

"When I went down for breakfast, I apologized to Potter for last night," Lily said. Alice nodded. "Then I went to go to class, but he caught me and asked if he could walk me there. I have no idea why but I said yes. Then he was talking and I accidentally called him James. My mind is all messed up and kooky!"

"Did you just say 'kooky'?" Alice asked her with a giggle. Lily shot her a glare. "Sorry! Well, you're not yourself today. I think you may have hit your head last night when you fell on him."

"He's hard-headed enough," Lily commented, making Alice laugh again.

"Anyways, don't worry about it! Just make sure you act normal again and pretend like it never ever happened," Alice said. "If you do that, he'll be bound to forget about today and then it won't matter."

"But he won't forget!" Lily moaned. "He's James Potter! Anything I do that's in any way remotely friendly makes his delusional mind thing that I'm as obsessed with him as he is with me!"

"That may be true," Alice said, pausing to think for a moment. "Well, just act like normal and then it won't matter. Now come on, I've got to fix your pretty little face before you leave this dorm again." With that she pulled Lily up and dragged her into the bathroom.

James, meanwhile, had stood stupidly in the middle of the hall, staring at the corner Lily had disappeared around. After several minutes he finally turned and went back to the great hall to see his friends and finish breakfast. Peter didn't seem to notice his return as he was in the middle of shoving as much food in his mouth as humanly possible. Remus looked up at him curiously and Sirius cocked his head like a dog.

"Where'd Lilypie go?" Sirius asked James. "Didn't think you'd come back without her."

"She freaked out and ran away," James replied, plopping into his seat and picking up his fork.

"And you just let her go?" Sirius said, raising his eyebrows. "You're such an idiot, Prongs!"

"You're one to talk," said Shelby as she took the seat beside Remus, who blushed scarlet. Chloe sat down by James and Addy dropped by Sirius.

"What're you guys doing here?" Sirius asked them, giving Addy, a distant relative of his, a rather miserable look.

"Obviously we're here to ask you what the heck _you_ did to make Lily all depressed and freaky," Shelby said, looking at James as she said 'you.'

"How'm I supposed to know?" James asked them. "She was like that when she came down. She apologized to me. Then agreed to let me walk her to class. Then she ran away again."

"Nice job, mate," Sirius said sarcastically. "You scared her _again_?"

"Shut up!" James said, scowling at Sirius.

"Well, whatever," Addy said. "Don't care about how scary you are, just about what you did that made her like that!"

"I don't know!" James said exasperatedly. "Last night she was angry but didn't seem like she was today. I don't know!"

"Uh huh," Chloe said. "We've got to go, but believe me, this isn't over." With that, the girls got up and walked away again. Shelby stopped and looked at them before going to say, "Hey Sirius? You've got eggs down the front of your robes."

"What?" yelped Sirius, looking down and exclaiming, "Blimey!" Then he grabbed a napkin and starting wiping it off.

"They're crazy," Remus said. "Just ignore them. You didn't do anything."

"Except scare her away again," Sirius told him.

"I didn't mean to," James said.

"Sure…" Sirius said.

"We'd better get to class, too," Remus said, standing up. James got up as well, followed by Peter.

"But I'm not done eating!" whined Sirius.

"Bummer," Remus said as the 3 left without him.

James entered the transfiguration classroom and immediately noticed Lily sitting by herself. He plastered a smile on his face and walked over, taking the seat beside her. Lily scowled and turned away.

"Can't you find anywhere better to sit, Potter?"

"Aww, Lils," James said, looking at her with large hazel eyes.

"My name is Lily," she snapped, glaring at him over her shoulder.

"And mine is James," he replied.

"Potter is part of your name," Lily commented.

"Not my real name, though," James said. "I'd prefer you didn't call me by my surname."

"Alright then," Lily said. "I'll call you moron."

"That's definitely not in my name."

"It should be."

"Alright, class, settle down!" said Professor McGonagall as she walked into the classroom from her office. 10 minutes later she had set them to work on a rather lengthy essay due by the end of class, reviewing what certain spells did and how to perform them. Lily immediately set to work while James doodled idly on the corner of his parchment.

"Lils," he said, tapping her on the shoulder.

"Lily," she hissed back.  
"Lily," James said apologetically. "Anyways, I was wondering if you'd like to go to Hogsmead with me this weekend."

"No."

"Just give me a chance!" James pleaded.

"No."

"Why do you hate me so much?"

"Because you're the most annoying person on the face of this planet. Now will you please let me work?" She turned further away from him so that all he saw were her robes and the top of her red head. James was silent for a few minutes.

"Hey, Lily?"

"What now?" she asked him irritably.

"Can I copy your essay?"

"NO!"

The whole class turned to look at Lily, who blushed scarlet before she stood up and moved to sit on the opposite side of the classroom. Sirius tossed James a folded up piece of parchment, which he picked up and unfolded. _Better luck next time, mate! _He scowled and began to work on his own essay.

_**Author's Note**__**: Tada! Chapter 11! Thanks to the people who're still around. **_

_**Alicecullenisrealinmyworld and LilyXJames - thanks so much for reviewing! You guys ROCK!**_

_**I'll try to get some more up in the next few days. Just letting everybody know, I had auditions for my high school play and I have callbacks for one of the big roles (Abby Brewster – has anyone heard of Arsenic and Old Lace?) so I'll probably be really busy. Sorry! I'm just an insanely stupid person for joining so many things.**_

_**Until next chapter!**_

_**-Naomi**_


	12. The Walk to Hogsmead

_**Disclaimer: you know… I don't own it… sigh**_

Chapter 12

The Walk to Hogsmead

The rest of the week passed without many out-of-the-ordinary happenings. James bugged Lily, Lily replied with a cold-shoulder. By the time Saturday had arrived, everyone was in great need of a break.

"Lily! GET UP! Time to go buy candy!" screamed Shelby as she catapulted herself from her own bed to land on top of Lily, who shrieked and rolled off the mattress. She hit the hard stone floor with a thud, causing the other girls to giggle uncontrollably.

"That hurt," Lily complained, rubbing her back as she emerged from under her covers (she had pulled them with her off the bed).

"Well, we've been trying to get up for like, 10 minutes!" Chloe told her. "You are a seriously hard sleeper."

"It's Saturday, I'm supposed to sleep," Lily informed her dorm mates.

"Nah, it's not just Saturday, it's a Hogsmead Saturday!" Alice said brightly. "That means we're up bright and early to get to Honeydukes and the Three Broomsticks before all those other idiots!"

"What time is it?" Lily asked, looking around for some sort of clock.

"6:30," Addy answered promptly.

"Seriously?" Lily said. "I'm going back to bed, get me up at 9." She pulled the blankets over her head.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Shelby said, preparing to jump from Lily's bed onto the lump on the floor. This time Lily rolled out of the way just in time, letting Shelby land on the unpadded stone. "Ouch!"

"Serves ya right," Lily said, getting to her feet and putting the covers back. "I don't think I'll be able to get back to sleep with you four yapping away. I guess we can get ready to go."

"YES! Candy!" squealed Addy, clapping her hands and running into the bathroom with an armload of clothing, makeup, and an assortment of other items that aren't usually needed in the morning. It was about 7:30 by the time Shelby and Addy had finished their preparation and had even let the other 3 into the bathroom. It was probably 7:45 when Addy and Shelby paraded downstairs, dragging the others with them. Lily was pulled out the door while she was still slipping on her forest green shirt, at which point she yelled at them to calm down and let her take her time.

Deciding that breakfast in the village would be a nice change, they made for the giant oak doors at the front of the castle, which were currently open, waiting to let students out. Addy, Chloe, and Shelby skipped ahead, too excited to wait for Alice and Lily, the "slow-pokes." They were barely off school grounds when they heard hurried footsteps behind them, followed by loud and rowdy voices.

"Lily! Alice! Didn't expect to see you two out at this unearthly hour of the morning," came the voice of James Potter.

"Just the thing I needed to ruin my day," Lily said with a scowl. "You."

"Aww, Lils, don't say that," James said, coming up and putting an arm on her shoulder. "You know you love me!"

"Actually, I really don't," Lily said, shoving his arm off and speeding up.

"Yes, you do," James said. "And that is why you are going to come with me to the Three Broomsticks for lunch!"

"What? No I'm not!" Lily said angrily.

"Yes, you are, you told me you would earlier this week," James said smugly.

"No I didn't!" Lily said, her cheeks flaring red.

"You told him you'd go to lunch with him and now you're not going?" Sirius said in horror. "You're a dreadful person! You can't do this to poor Jamsie!"

"Lily," Alice said, looking at her friend. "Are they serious, or are they joking around?"

"I – I never said that!" Lily said. "I said no!"

"No, you told me you'd come with me," James persisted, a look of desperateness displayed clearly on his face.

"But – I – no –"Lily spluttered, her face displaying her anger and confusion at the situation.

"Lily, if you told James you'd go, you should go," Sirius said seriously.

"But I never said I would! I'm not going with you to lunch!" Lily said, stalking off, followed by Alice. James frowned.

"Dang. I was really hoping that she'd get tricked into going," Sirius said.

"Didn't work. She'll have to go out with me sometime," James concluded. "I mean really. Every other girl would leap at the chance!"

"Ah, I told you in our first year what I thought of all this," Sirius said with a sigh. "You definitely should've picked an easier target." James punched his friend in the shoulder good-naturedly and said nothing.

"Lily, please slow down a bit," Alice begged. Since the brief meeting with the Marauders, she hadn't gone at an Alice-suited pace.

"That stupid idiot! Tried to trick me into going on a date with him!" Lily fumed, her face red with anger, her hands curled into tight fists. She pounded down the path, kicking up dust as she went.

"Lily," Alice said again. "Please!"

"I'd never go on a date with him! He's such a moron! A jerk who thinks he can get whatever he wants!"

"LILY!" Alice yelled. Lily turned and looked at her friend.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Slow down please?" Alice begged.

"Oh," Lily said. She began walking slower. "Sorry." They walked in silence for a few minutes.

"Hey, Lils?" Alice asked, her voice slightly cautious.

"Yeah?"

"If I ask you this question, will you promise not to fly off the handle and start yelling? Please answer in a truthful and calm manner?" Alice asked.

"Sure, yeah," Lily said, shrugging her shoulders.

"I was wondering…" Alice said. "What is it that you hate so much about James Potter?"

Lily looked at Alice, her face reddening a bit with anger. She waited a minute or so to calm down before replying. "He's so arrogant. He thinks he's the best and that he knows everything. He's always trying to annoy me-"

"Actually, I don't think that's true," Alice interjected. "I don't think he's trying to annoy you at all."

"What?" Lily said sharply.

"Well, guys have a weird way of showing they like a girl," Alice stated. "Of course, everyone knows that. But some are a bit more… forward with it. They think that teasing and following someone will get them to like them, or something along those lines. Obviously James has been doing that since first year. He doesn't hate you or want to drive you to the point of insanity with his annoying ways. He's trying to make you like him. And he doesn't want you to like him just for some personal achievement. I think he really honestly likes you."

Lily said nothing. Then, "You really think that?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's right," Alice said, looking satisfied with herself. "Maybe you should be slightly nicer. And possibly give him a chance."

Lily nodded almost imperceptibly.

_**Author's Note: I just remembered as I reread my review that James and Lily are supposed to be heads, aren't they? Well, crap. Let's pretend that they've been doing all that head stuffage for the past 11 chapters. **_

_**Hope you like it! Sigh… **_

_**Well, to anyone who cares about this kind of thing, guess what? I got the part of Abby Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace! YAY! Exciting! Lots of lines, lots of practicing. Probably less updating. Sorry. Today I have a snow day ('cause my school district is RETARDED) so I may get up 2 chapters. No promises.**_

_**-Naomi**_


	13. It's Not A Date

_**Disclaimer: Don't own. **_

Chapter 13

It's Not A Date

"Where've you two been for the last year?" Shelby asked Alice and Lily when they finally arrived at Honeydukes 20 minutes later.

"Taking our sweet time," Alice replied. "And we ran into the Marauders. Took us a bit to escape them."

"Really?" Chloe said. "Hope James didn't attack Lily again."

"Of which sense of the word 'attack' are we talking about?" Lily asked. "If you mean physically, no. He didn't touch me. But with words, that's a completely different story."

"He tried to convince us Lily had accepted a date with him to the Three Broomsticks," Alice informed them.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "He is such an idiot," she moaned. "I am so glad that my parents don't make us visit them that often."

"I am so sorry that you two are related," Lily said with wide eyes. "I may've had to kill myself!"

"Aww, don't kill yourself!" Shelby said, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.

"I'd only do that if I was related to Potter," Lily told her friend, trying to escape from Shelby's arms.

"Ohhh," Shelby said, stepping back and going back to her candy-collecting.

"Hey, Lily!" Lily turned and saw Severus coming towards her. She scowled and turned away. He walked right up next to her and said, "Hey, how are you?"  
"I was fine until you showed up," Lily said, taking a deep breath and trying to keep her cool.

"You aren't still mad about that… incident in 5th year, are you?" Severus asked sadly.

"It isn't exactly one of those experiences that it's easy to forgive," she replied curtly. She walked to the counter and put the candy she had chosen down, taking her bag of money out. She fished around inside, finding the few coins she had left.

"Here, let me pay," Severus said, grabbing his own bag and pulling out several galleons.

"I can pay for myself, thanks," Lily said coldly, handing the money to the witch and taking her bag of candy. Then she headed towards the door to leave the shop.

"Lily, please don't be so upset about that," Severus said unhappily. "I've apologized a thousand times!"

"Maybe an apology isn't enough to make up for that," Lily said, turning to look at him. Her eyes were watering, her face turning red.

"Lily-"

"Just leave me alone!" She stalked off, heading towards the Three Broomsticks, but Severus followed.

"Lily, I don't want you to be so mad-"

"You should have thought of that before," Lily replied acidly.

"I don't want to lose you as my friend!"

"Oh, so I'm your friend, am I? What happened to me being a filthy mudblood? Or have you suddenly had a change of heart?" Lily said icily, stopping and staring at him, her normally happy green eyes now filled with anger and sadness.

"I didn't mean to-"

"I'm sure you didn't."

"Really! Why would I lie to you?" Severus asked her desperately.

"You have in the past, why wouldn't you now?"

"I've never lied to you!"

"So you told the truth when you said I was a mudblood, when you said I didn't matter and you ran off with your little Slytherin friends, when you said that I was a nobody! Then I take that back; you haven't lied to me and you probably won't. You're bad enough without being a liar!" Lily covered her face with her hands, sobbing, and ran forward, right into someone. She looked up and saw the face of James Potter looking down at her concernedly. Lily buried her face in his jacket, sobbing.

The bewildered James looked at his friends. Sirius looked dumbstruck and Peter had wandered off to Honeydukes, but Remus seemed to have kept his head and was now mouthing, _comfort her!_ James immediately wrapped his arms around her, holding her close and whispering, "Shhh, it'll be alright." Alice, Chloe, and Shelby had joined Sirius and Remus as they watched the pair after a minute or so but all 5 had disappeared moments in the direction of Zonko's.

It took Lily about 10 minutes to regain control of herself. She wiped away a few stray tears and looked up at James. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Don't be sorry," James said.

"He was just… I… he…" Lily couldn't find the words to explain what she was trying to say.

"Uh, well, I don't want you do get all mad or anything," James said. "If you say no, that's ok, but… would you like to go to the Three Broomsticks? I'll buy butterbeer or something…"

"Sure," Lily said, wiping her face.

"Knew you'd say th-" he said, cutting himself short and freezing. "Wait, you said yes?"

"Don't look so shocked," Lily said. "It's not a date."

James didn't say anything, but a huge grin spread across his face. The two began to walk towards the pub quietly. They took a small table near the back. James ordered two butterbeers while Lily situated herself comfortably in the chair. The waiter brought the drinks over and James paid before he walked off to serve the other tables.

"So," James said. "Do you want to tell me what happened out there or would you prefer to sit silently?"

Lily took a deep breath. "It was Severus," she started. James's face hardened. "He was trying to be friendly, but ever since what happened in 5th year… well, I got upset, and he just wouldn't leave me alone."

"Do you need me to find him later?" James asked. Lily laughed.

"No, its fine," she told him. She took a sip of her butterbeer. "I'm sorry I, well, ran into you. And, well, stayed there for quite a while."

"Oh, that," James said. "I don't mind in the slightest." Lily smiled shyly.

The two talked for about 20 minutes before they left the pub, going their separate ways. Lily went and found Alice, Chloe, Shelby, and Addy (who had been in Honeydukes practically the whole morning). James found Remus and Sirius lounging boredly near the shrieking shack.

"Oi! Prongs!" Sirius said, leaping up. "Where the heck've you been?"

"Ah, nowhere that concerns you," James said with a wink.

"He's been with Lily," Remus said. "That's all you'll know, and probably all you will ever know."

"This whole time?" Sirius said with wide eyes.

"It wasn't a date," James told them sadly. "She made sure I understood that. Plus half the time we were just standing outside with her crying."

"Not exactly the first date you'd imagined, then, was it, Prongsie?" Sirius said, shaking his head and sighing.

"It wasn't a date," James pointed out. "We could still have one like that…"

"Whatever. I don't think you honestly care about that anymore," Sirius said. "You're too lovesick to care."

"Even if he did care, I don't think that it would matter in the end," Remus said. "A date with Lily is a date with Lily!"

"So, are you going to ask her again tomorrow?" Sirius asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"Probably, yeah," James said.

"Maybe you'll finally get the girl," Remus said optimistically.

James smiled. "Maybe."

_**Author's Note: Yay for them finally having a non-fighting moment! Wooh! I needed something happy to happen with them in order for me to retain my happy mood I have acquired. I got the role I wanted, I have no school, and I have 26 reviews! I love you guys 3**_

_**Maybe I'll try to set review goals. Maybe 30 by the next chapter? Pretty please? **_

_**-Naomi**_


	14. You Like Him

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Lily, James, Hogwarts, or basically anything except Chloe, Shelby, and Addy. At least they belong to me. THEY ARE MINE! MUAHAHAHA! But Lily and James aren't :'(**_

Chapter 14

You Like Him

"Hey, Lily?" Alice said, tapping her on the shoulder.

"Hmm?" Lily replied, looking up from her homework at Alice's round face. It was now Saturday night, and all five girls were lounging about the dormitory, amusing themselves with various activities. Lily was the only one who had decided to do her homework. Chloe was writing in a diary, Shelby was eating candy, Addy was playing with an assortment of Zonko's items, and Alice had been doodling idly on a spare piece of parchment.

"There's an owl at the window with a scroll," Alice informed her. "And the scroll has your name on it."

"Oh," Lily said, standing up and moving towards the window. She opened it wide enough for the tawny owl to hop inside and hold its leg out for her to untie the parchment from, which she did. The owl then hopped back outside and fluttered away. Lily quickly latched the window and sat on her bed, unfurling the scroll.

_Ms. Evans,_

_If you are able, I would like to meet privately with yourself and Mr. Potter on Sunday around 7 o'clock in my office. If this is an inconvenient time, please make it convenient. _

_Hoping you are quite well,_

_Professor Albus Dumbledore_

"Who's it from?" Alice asked. "What do they want?"  
"Just professor Dumbledore," Lily said. "He wants to meet with Potter and me, no doubt about our duties as heads." She flopped backwards, closing her eyes. "Goodness knows how _he_ got to be a head. He wasn't even a prefect! Remus was!" She sighed heavily. "There isn't much I can do about it now. I just hope that we won't have to do any patrols or anything together."

"I thought you two might've bonded earlier during that half hour that you were together," Alice commented, smiling mischievously at Lily, who threw a pillow at her in response.

"It was more of a… I sort of attacked him so I let him have one thing. I agreed to go to the Three Broomsticks for a drink. But it wasn't a date and he knows it," Lily said.

"It'll lead to a date, though," Alice said.

"No, it most certainly won't," Lily sniffed. "Just because of what happened earlier? Pshhh, nah. He better not be thinking that either."

"Come off it, you obviously don't think he's that dreadful anymore," Alice said.

"Yes, I most certainly do," Lily said rather unconvincingly. "He's so full of himself and thinks he can get whatever he wants!"

"Which he obviously can," Alice put in.

"No, he can't!" Lily said.

"Yes, he can, it seems," Alice said. "Before you fly off the handle, listen! He got you to agree to go to the Three Broomsticks with him, you ran into him and didn't run off further, and now you actually might like him!"

"I most certainly do not!" Lily gasped, sitting bolt upright, eyes wide.

"Yes, I think you do," Alice said smugly.

"She does what?" Chloe asked, coming over from where she had been lying.

"Like a certain somebody," Alice trilled, dodging the book Lily had thrown at her head.

"Who?" Addy asked as she and Shelby dashed over. "Do tell!"

"I don't like anyone!" Lily said, her face scarlet.

"You totally like him!" Alice said, beaming at her. "I knew it! You finally caved!"

"Wait," Chloe said. "You don't mean she likes-"

"Yep," Alice said, grinning.

"Eww!" Chloe said. "He's a weirdo!"

"I know! I don't like him!" Lily yelled, burying herself under her bedding.


	15. Meeting with Dumbledore

_**Disclaimer: I still don't own most of this stuff…**_

Chapter 15

Meeting with Dumbledore

Lily left the common room at 10 'til 7 the next day. She walked briskly towards the headmaster's office, stopping only to help a first year, who had dropped her bag and spilled the contents all over the corridor. When she reached the gargoyle that stood guard outside, she stopped, trying to think of the password. Had Dumbledore included it in the letter? She glanced at her watch. 6:59. James wouldn't have arrived yet – the closest he ever was to on time was 5 minutes late. She leaned up against the wall, staring down the hallway.

"Uh, Lily?"

She spun around and saw James standing outside the office as well.

"What, Potter?" she asked him, standing up straight.

"Why haven't you gone in?" James asked her.

"Because," Lily said, feeling her face go a little red. "Dumbledore never gave me the password."

"Its lemon drop," James told her. The gargoyle sprang aside and a set of spiral stairs appeared, leading upward. James motioned for Lily to go. She walked forward, ascending the steps and a quick pace. She could hear James coming up behind her, though he said nothing. When they reached the top, Lily knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Dumbledore called from inside. Lily pushed the wood door open, revealing a circular room, adorned with many paintings of former headmasters and mistresses, plenty of odd contraptions that Lily had never seen before, a huge desk, and a brilliant fiery red bird, sitting perched behind Dumbledore.

"Hello, professor," James said cheerfully. "Hello, Fawkes."

"Good evening, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore replied. "Ah, Ms. Evans! Delightful! Why don't you take a seat?" He waved his wand and two chairs appeared. James immediately took a seat, looking completely at home. Lily hesitated before sitting down.

"So," Dumbledore said, looking at the two head students.

"So," James said. "Why, may I ask, have you called us here, my dear professor?"

"Of course," Dumbledore replied. "I'd like to have you two start your nightly patrols. Every night at 10, I'd like you two to take a spin around the castle. Make sure no small students are up; escort any you find up to their common rooms. Every other Sunday at 7, you will report to me of any happenings. You will both be in charge of school activities, so during our meetings we can discuss any ideas you happen to have come up with, or that I have come up with for that matter."

"Do we have to do our patrol together?" Lily asked, looking at James miserably.

"Of course," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. Lily scowled and sat back in the chair.  
"Did you think that Dumbledore would want two patrols going at once?" James asked her in a mocking tone. She thrust him a glare.

"Ah, I'm sure you two will have a glorious time," Dumbledore commented. "Now, being as this is the first meeting, I don't have much else to say. Scurry off and have fun for a while, but don't forget to patrol at 10!"

"Yes, headmaster," Lily and James replied, James in a sing-song voice and Lily in a dead sort of voice.

"I will be seeing you in 2 weeks time," Dumbledore said.

"Yes, you will me," James said, grinning. Then he stood up and strode to the door, opening it up and waving with his arm for me to go. I walked through and down the steps, heading towards the Gryffindor common room.

"Lils! Wait up!" James called from behind her. She heard him running to catch up with her and sped up her own pace.

"Lily," she corrected him.

"Seriously, Lils, I can call you whatever I want," James said. "Just like you can call me whatever you want."

"Does that mean I'm allowed to call you moron?" Lily asked him hopefully. He frowned.

"I'd prefer not," James replied.

"That's not a straight answer," Lily said, smiling. "Yes or no?''

"Well, I guess you are allowed…" he said. "But it'd be lovely if you didn't."

"Oh, well I guess you're having a disappointing day, aren't you, moron?"

"It'd make it a lot nicer if you'd agree to go on a date with me."

"Nope," Lily replied. "There is nothing you can say to make me agree to that."

"But yesterday-"

"-Was NOT a date."

"I know, but does it count for anything?"

Lily thought for a moment. "Yeah, it does. You get a few good points. But, problem I have is that you have so many bad points that the good hardly make a difference."

The rest of the walk was silent, being as James couldn't think of a come-back and Lily felt no need to continue speaking with him. When they arrived in the common room, Alice, Addy, Chloe, and Shelby were all sitting around the fire with Remus, Sirius, and Peter.

"What're you guys doing?" Lily asked, trying to figure out why they were together.

"Oh, nothing," Alice said, smiling. "How was your meeting?"

"Wonderful!" James said. "Quite delightful." Lily scowled.

"Let's go upstairs," she told her friends.

"Make sure you're down here at 10," James said. "You don't want to disobey orders from the headmaster, do you?"

"Shut up," Lily said. "Make sure you're here at 10, being as you're the one who's always late." With that she stalked upstairs, followed by her 4 friends.

_**A/N: **_

_**NEED SUGGESTTIONS FOR SCHOOL ACTIVITIES! My sister keeps trying to persuade me to do a holiday dance or something. What do you think? I read another fanfic with a dance and liked it but I don't want to seem like I copy! I dunno. I think something's going to come up and they're all (except stupid old Peter) going to end up at the same place for Christmas… so a dance would have to be before Holiday break begins… But I need more than just one something. PLEASE REVIEW WITH SUGGESTIONS!**_

_**Play rehearsal starts tomorrow… that means I'll be home a lot less and have a lot lot less time to write.**_

_**Was it a gargoyle or an eagle outside Dumbledore's office? I can't remember.**_

_**If anybody has the time, I have a poll posted on my profile – go vote? :) It'd make me happy**_

_**Also, I'm looking for people to beta read! I'd like to start getting it edited! If anyone would like to volunteer…**_

_**Sorry it's sort of short. I'll try to do better. **_

_**Hmm… goal time! Maybe… 35 review by chapter 16?**_

_**-Naomi**_


	16. Patrol

_**Disclaimer: I don't own stuff…**_

Chapter 16

Patrol

At exactly 10 o'clock, Lily walked down the steps and into the common room. To her great surprise, James was leaning on the wall absent-mindedly. He grinned and stepped forward, saying, "Pushing it, aren't you, Lily?"

"What?" Lily replied, slightly confused.

"It's exactly 10 o'clock. A few seconds and you would've been late."

Lily scowled. "But I wasn't late, so it doesn't matter," she told him. "Let's get this stupid patrol over with." She walked towards the portrait hole, James trailing behind her. They exited into the corridor, Lily keeping a fast pace to stay in front of James.

"Lily?" James said, catching up with a few long strides. "You know, we're supposed to patrol together."

"Well, just because we're patrolling together doesn't mean I have to see you," Lily replied curtly, trying to get ahead of him again.

"Can you please stop running ahead of me?" James asked her.

"Why?"

"Because I don't particularly like having to trail behind."

"And I don't like seeing you."

"Lily, we're going to be stuck on patrols every night together. Can you at least try to get along with me?" Lily stopped and took a deep breath, and then she turned and looked at him.

"Get along with you?" Lily said, giving him a disbelieving look. "Ever since the first day I met you on the _first day_ of school, you've done nothing other than try to annoy me to death. You insult me, you insult my friends, you tease to no end, prank the school; you act like you're the king of Hogwarts and that everyone should bow down to the almighty James Potter! You treat me like I'm a prize to be won, not like someone with actual feelings!" Lily felt tears beginning to well up in her eyes. She turned her back to him and started to walk away.

"Lily, I never tried to be –"

"Just leave me alone!"

For several minutes Lily walked blindly down the halls, James trailing silently behind her. It took about 10 minutes for Lily to calm herself down enough to let James come up beside her and walk at a normal speed.

"I'm sorry," James told her quietly. "For everything. You're right. I acted like a jerk. There's no way that you would like me for any of the things I've done, and I was wrong to think that. You aren't a prize; you're Lily Evans – the most amazing girl I've ever met. I'm just an arrogant toe-rag."

Lily didn't reply for a moment, but she smiled a bit, her eyes down-cast. "So you admit to being an arrogant toe-rag after 6 years?"

James let out a heavy sigh. "Yes, I am saying that I am, indeed, an arrogant toe-rag after denying it for 6 years." Lily giggled.

When Lily returned to her dormitory after the patrol, all 4 of her friends were sitting on the floor talking.

"Lily! You're back!" squealed Addy, leaping up and hugging her friend.

"It's only been like, a half hour or something," Lily told her, wiggling out of Addy's arms and sitting in the circle.

So, how many times did he ask you out during this half-hour?" Alice asked with a smile.

"Zero times," Lily answered.

"Zero?" Chloe said in shock. "No way!"

"Yep, zero times," Lily said, nodding. "It's now his personal record."

The four girls stared at Lily. "You're joking, aren't you?" Shelby said.

"Nope, I'm being completely truthful," Lily replied. "You don't think I lie to you!"

"Well…" Alice said. "You've always been a truthful person. But I think that anything that has to do with James is subject to being lied about."

What?" Lily said. "I wouldn't lie to you guys!"

"Sure," Alice said, looking suspiciously at Lily.

_**A/N: Yay for another chapter! Even if it is super short! Sorry for the long wait between the updates, but the play is taking a lot of time up. I'll try to post another one or two this weekend and make them longer.**_

_**I'm going to start replying to reviews in my A/N again… It sounded like a good idea**_

_**Writergal24 – if you'll beta that'd be amazing! :) Shoot me a PM if you're still interested **_

_**Zoe – I like your suggestions. I'll try to work those in… I'm pretty sure I'll use the second somehow – something will have to happen over Christmas. **_

_**Thank you for reviewing! Maybe we could get it to 35 before chapter 17? It seems the goal for 35 by this chapter fell through so… let's try again.**_


	17. Dumbledore's Idea

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Lily or James or Alice or Sirius or Lupin or Peter or Dumbledore or Slughorn or McGonagall or many other people featured in this darn fanfiction**_

Chapter 17

Dumbledore's Idea

"Hey, Lily," James said happily as he and his friends passed Lily and hers in the corridor. She looked up at him, her cheek dimpling slightly with a smile before disappearing from sight.

"What happened during the past few months, Prongsie?" Sirius asked in amazement. "We got here in September and it was the same – she hated you, you worshiped her. Now she's decent to you – she _smiled _when you said hi!"

"Honestly, mate, I have no idea," James said. "I stopped asking her out on dates. That made a bit of a difference."

"Well then, I guess that's the trick," Remus said jokingly. "You don't show that you like them and they're nice to you. You act like they're the most amazing person you've ever met and they hate you." He shook his head. "Girl's minds are far too confusing."

"I quite agree," Sirius said. "What say you, Prongs?"

"What? Oh yeah, sure," James said, though he didn't seem to be really paying attention to them.

"James, you there?" Remus asked. "You look like you're in a dream."

"What?" James said, looking up. "Oh, dream. No, I'm not dreaming."  
"Prongs, focus," Sirius said, whacking his friend upside the head.

"Ow," James said, rubbing his head. "What was that for?"

"You aren't focusing," Sirius replied.

"When was the last time I hit you for not focusing?" James grumbled.

"Last night while we were doing homework," Sirius answered.

"Whatever," James said. "Let's go get our homework done. I have a meeting with Dumbledore later tonight."

At 7 o'clock, Lily and James arrived at Dumbledore's office, ascending the spiraling staircase and entering the round room. It was just like it always ways; Fawkes sitting lazily on his perch, the old head masters pretending to sleep in their frames, Dumbledore waiting at his desk.

"Good evening, Miss Evans and Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said, motioning for them to sit down in the two waiting armchairs. "How have patrols been going?"

"Quite well, sir," Lily said. "We haven't found anyone out of bed these two weeks apart from one first year who was dreadfully lost."

"Excellent, excellent," Dumbledore said, beaming at them. "Now, as you two well know, the holiday season is quickly approaching! I think that Hogwarts has ignored this festive season far too long. I think we should have a celebration."

"Of what sort, sir?" James asked curiously.

"Well, that is entirely up to the pair of you what we will do, but I was thinking something along the lines of a dance."

"A dance?" Lily repeated, eyebrows rising.

"Yes, a dance," Dumbledore said. "The problem with a holiday dance is that many students leave over break to be with their friends and family. Do either of you have a solution for this?"

"We could hold it the night before everyone leaves," James said excitedly.

"Yes, of course," Dumbledore said, nodding. "I'd like the two of you, to organize our Hogwarts pre-Christmas dance, along with any helpers you may wish to recruit, and have your plans brought to me by next Sunday evening rather than the Sunday two weeks from now. Can you do that?"

"Of course we can," Lily said.

"Excellent! Well then, you may go and plan," Dumbledore said. He waved his wand and the door opened, allowing them to exit his office.

"A dance!" James said happily as he and Lily walked into the common room. "This'll be great!"

"Oh, yes, great fun," Lily said with a sigh. "It's going to take so much work!"

"Get your friends and my friends to help out and it'll be easy and cake," James said.

"Cake isn't as easy to make as it seems," Lily said.

"Go get your friends to the common room and I'll get mine. We can start planning now."

"Now?" Lily said. "But-"

"What time better than now? We'll forget if we don't start soon!" James said.

"Why not-"

"Just go get them," James said. Then he bounded into the boys dorms. Lily scowled and walked upstairs.

"Hey, Alice, Shelby, Addy, Chloe," Lily called as she entered. "I need you to come downstairs with me."

"Why?" Addy asked.

"Dumbledore wants James and me to plan a pre-Christmas dance thingy," Lily replied. "He needs all the plans by next Sunday, and James want to get it done tonight. It'll be impossible to get anything done if it's just us two so I'm getting you guys and he's getting his friends."

"A dance!" squealed Chloe. "This'll be great!"

"That's exactly what he said," Lily said, laughing.

"Let's go! I want to plan everything," Chloe said, grabbing Addy and Lily and running downstairs followed closely by Alice and Shelby. They arrived in the common room to find James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace.

"So! Ready to plan?" James asked cheerfully as the girls seated themselves. Lily made sure she was on the opposite side of the rather messy circle than James.

"Definitely," Shelby said.

"I think that only 7th years and up should be allowed to go unless they're invited by an older student," Sirius said

"That'd be just 7th years," Chloe said, rolling her eyes. "Why not 4th years and up?"

"Why not," Lily said, smiling. "Sounds like a good idea to me." She pulled out parchment, ink, and a quill, titled the page _Pre-Christmas Dance_ and wrote _4__th__ years and up allowed._

"Date is day before Christmas break," James said. "Time? Sometime until like, 2 am or something."

"8pm until 2am?" suggested Chloe. Everyone nodded and Lily wrote it down.

"I vote that we should be able to let everyone who's going to this dance leave Hogwarts for one weekend to shop," Addy said.

"Maybe just one Saturday," Lily said. "Get on the Hogwarts express at 8am, shop until you have no energy left and an ice new outfit, then get back on the train at 8pm."

"That sound good," Shelby said, everyone else muttering in ascent.

The planning went on until finally all 9 of them were half asleep.

"We're pretty much done, aren't we?" Lily said, yawning.

"I don't see what else there is to plan," Chloe said, also yawning.

"I'm going to bed," Alice said and she got shakily to her feet. "G'night."

"I'm going up, too," Lily said, standing up. "I'm going to keep the paper in my bag upstairs until next Sunday, 'kay?" James nodded sleepily. "See you guys tomorrow." She then hobbled upstairs, changed into her pajamas, and went to bed.

_**A/N: Poor Remus is so confused by girl's minds. If only he'd been in my health class this past Thursday. Some guest speaker lady came in for sex-ed stuff (yuck) and told us that guy's minds are like waffles: a compartment for each subject, they can only think about one thing at once. And that can be nothing. A girl's mind is like spaghetti: jumbled up, a million thoughts at once, never at rest. No wonder guys think we're so confusing. We kind of are.**_

_**Writergal24 – is this a big something? I hope so. I went with the pre-Christmas idea :) As for beta, do I just PM you the chapter (like copy and paste in) or do I have to attach it somehow? I'm kind of not sure about that lol**_

_**Eh, didn't feel like waiting for 35. 34 is pretty close. Maybe 35 by chapter 18.**_

_**-Naomi**_


	18. The Shopping Trip

_**Disclaimer: Still don't own**_

Chapter 18

The Shopping Trip

Lily and James sat in Dumbledore's office the following Sunday, watching as he carefully read their list of plans for the Holiday dance.

"I say," Dumbledore finally said after about 10 minutes of silence. "I congratulate myself on picking you two as heads. This is the most well-organized and neat planning that I believe I have ever seen. All details arranged, nothing has been left out, everything is perfect. I think that all of this can be arranged."

"Really?" Lily said, her eyes widening.

"Of course! I think that this coming weekend should be an excellent time to allow all those attending the dance to shop for their outfits. We will have an announcement at breakfast tomorrow, reminders at each meal, your shopping spree on Saturday, and then on the night before break, you will have your Holiday dance." Dumbledore beamed at Lily and James. "I knew you two would be able to do it."

"Thank you, headmaster," James said happily, standing up and shaking Dumbledore's hand excitedly.

"Now, why don't you two run along to your dormitory? You do not have to patrol tonight as reward for a job well done. A flyer will be posted on the common room boards by morning!"

"Thanks, professor," Lily said, also standing up and following James out of the office.

"LILY! WAKE UP!" shrieked Addy. "ALICE! CHLOE! SHELBY!"

"Addy… go back to bed," muttered Chloe, throwing a pillow at Addy, but missing by several meters since her head was under her pillow to hide from the light.

"Get your lazy butts up," Addy said. "Time to get ready to go! The train leaves at 8 o'clock sharp. It's already 7! We need to get UP UP UP!"

"You have far too much energy this morning," Lily told Addy as she sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Mmph," said Alice.

"We need to get Alice a t-shirt that says 'mmph' for her birthday," commented Shelby.

"Agreed," Lily said.

"Mmph," Alice repeated, causing the others to giggle.

By 7:45, all 5 girls were dressed in their jeans and t's with their coats, hats, gloves, scarves, and an assortment of other items piled on top. Each had a rather large bag of galleons, knuts, and sickles, along with a rather smaller supply of English notes.

"We'll just have to use an exchange machine thingy if we can't find anything in Diagon Alley," Chloe said, dismissing the problem with a wave of her gloved hand. They all then dashed downstairs and out the door, pausing only when they realized that it had snowed overnight. Then, laughing as they went, they began to run (rather slowly) through about one and a half feet of snow towards the platform where they heard students bustling about, trying to board the train. They arrived, out of breath and quite red in the face from the bitter wind whipping them as they ran and from exhaustion, and boarded along with the other students.

"We don't have to fight for a compartment!" Alice said happily, finding several vacant compartments and choosing one. They filed in and plopped down.

"Where are we going to go first?" Shelby asked them. A silence followed.

"I honestly have no idea," Lily said, giggling.

"I think that we should just get a bunch of our wizard money exchanged because I honestly think that we won't be able to find any nice dance-worthy dresses in Diagon Alley," Chloe said.

The other 4 agreed with this and then began talking about the type of dress they hoped to find. At exactly 8 o'clock, the train lurched to a start and the girl's chatter redoubled. They had barely been moving for 2 minutes when a familiar group of boys walked in sat down.

"Good morning, girlies," Sirius said, flashing a smile at Addy, by whom he had sat down.

"Go away," Addy said, trying to push him away (and failing).

"Aw, Addy, don't be so mean," Sirius said. "Keep acting like that and I'll tell your mother!"

"Sure you will," Chloe said. "You're too scared of what I'll do to you." A frightened look flashed on Sirius's face before he regained control of himself.

"Yeah, right," he said.

"Why don't you 4 find another place to sit?" Chloe said.

"Because we loooove you guys and wanna sit here," James said, sitting down by Lily scowled and looked away.

"Please?" begged Addy.

"Ok, fine, sit here," Alice said. "Chloe, I think that you would look awesome in-"

"Eww, shopping!" Sirius said, leaping up.

"Padfoot, Prongs, let's find somewhere else to sit," Remus said tiredly. "Peter's already disappeared.

"I'm leaving," Sirius said, looking at the girls. "Shopping is the worst subject in the world!" He stood up and ran out of the compartment, followed by Remus. James stood up.

"I guess I'd best go with them. I'll be seeing you all later. Maybe we could find you for lunch," James said, smiling at Lily (who did not return the look with anything less than a huge scowl), and left.

"Alice, you are a freakin' genius," Chloe said, hugging her tightly.

"Why, thank you, Chloe," Alice said. "It isn't that difficult to do, though. Even Addy could've done that quite easily." Addy, who hadn't realized that they were talking about her, was staring boredly the floor.

When the train pulled up to Platform 9¾, everyone bolted to get off and to start shopping. The girls ran to one of the money exchange machines, dumping the majority of their wizard gold into the slot and receiving a few thousand pound notes (or so it seemed) in return. Then they ran off into the city to find somewhere to buy dresses, shoes, and anything else they may need.

"Ooh, let's go in there!" squealed Addy, pointing at a store displaying several elaborate gowns in the window. The others had no objection so they ran inside, browsing through rack after rack of party dresses.

"Hey, Lils, this one is perfect for you," Alice said sarcastically, holding up a dress in a shade so bright pink it almost glowed. Lily shielded her eyes.

"That's absolutely revolting!" she gasped. "What did you do, dip it in a tub of radioactive liquid?" Alice giggled and put the dress away between two huge black dresses that hid it from view.

"Oh, look at this one!" said Addy, holding up the same pink one Alice had just tried to hide. This cause Alice and Lily to start laughing so hard that they had to lean on a support pillar to stay on their feet. "What?" Addy asked them, looking at the dress.

"Oh. My. Gawsh." Addy turned and saw Chloe, who had just come into the section to see what the commotion was about. "Please, whatever you do, do NOT get that dress." Addy looked slightly crestfallen as they left the store without the neon dress.

The next store they tried had a bit more success. After several minutes of hard searching, Shelby came running over.

"I found one!" she squealed, grabbing Lily and Alice and dragging them over a few aisles. She pointed at a dark blue dress, the top bunched slightly to form folds with a ribbon around the waist, a diamond-like clasp holding it in place.

"Try it on!" Addy said, bouncing up and down excitedly as Shelby took the dress in her arms. She then ran off to the changing rooms, the other four close behind. Shelby came out a moment later and the girls stared at her in awe.

"What?" Shelby said worriedly. "Does it look dreadful?"

"No," Chloe said. "It's absolutely amazing!"

"You have to buy it," Alice said.

"I don't think you'll find a better one," Lily said.

"OH MY GOSH! IT'S SOOO PRETTY!" Addy bubbled.

"Should I buy it?" Shelby asked.

"Yes!" the other four said in unison. Shelby beamed at them and ran back into the changing room, getting into her normal clothes and rushing to the check out. They all then ran to the next store to search for 4 more dresses. It wasn't long before Chloe found a light blue strapless dress with a plain skirt and beaded and embroidered floral design on the bodice. She immediately tried it on and bought it and then began assisting the others in finding dresses. They found a plain red dress with cap sleeves, which Alice bought before even trying it on (much to the annoyance of Addy, who had been campaigning for Alice to buy a hot pink dress with a tulle skirt and huge flower on the hip). They stopped for lunch at about 1, eating in a small café next to a store they had found Chloe and Alice's dresses in.

"I think this may just be the most fun I've had ever," Shelby said.

"I think today is even better than that time we all went to Germany, and that was pretty awesome," Alice said.

"I'm glad you're having a fun time shopping," came the irritated voice of Sirius from behind them.

"Why're you here?" complained Chloe.

"I'm hungry," he replied, sitting down. "James and Remus have suddenly become very concerned about what type of suit we're buying. Peter hasn't reappeared since this morning. I think we may have accidentally left him at the castle."

"Padfoot! There you are!" James said, entering the café and sitting down at the table. "Moony and I were a bit worried when you disappeared from the store."

"I don't want to shop anymore," complained Sirius.

"You better shop or else I'm sure no girl will go with you," warned Addy.

"Bah, I'll get a girl to go with me easily," Sirius said.

"Not if you don't have anything to wear," Shelby said.

"Whatever," Sirius groaned.

"So, how has your shopping experience been thus far?" James asked.

"Absolutely amazing!" Addy said before breaking into a long rant on how many gorgeous dresses they had seen and about how no one liked any of the best ones (such as the hot pink and radioactive pink dresses).

"Have any of you actually gotten your dresses?" Remus asked.

"I have, and so has Shelby and Chloe," Alice replied.

"I would have, but they said that if I got them then they wouldn't talk to me that whole night," Addy huffed.

"Maybe there's a reason," Sirius muttered, earning him a hard whack upside the head by Addy.

"Well, why don't you three eat now? We're finished, so we'll be seeing you later," Lily said stiffly, standing up to leave.

"Aww, Lily, don't be so hot tempered," James said.

"Maybe if you stopped following us around I wouldn't be so annoyed," Lily snapped.

"Lils, they aren't really following us," whispered Alice, trying to sit her down.

"I'll stop if you'll go to the dance with me," James said.

"No!" Lily said angrily, walking out of the café.

"Lily!" Alice called, running after her. Addy and Shelby got up and ran after them as well.

"Nice move," Chloe said irritably, following her friends. "Maybe if you keep your big mouth shut for once she'd actually like you!" She stormed out.

"Let's just find some dresses and get out of here," Lily said, keeping herself ahead of Alice and the others.

"Lily, please don't get so upset," Alice said.

"He just asked if I'd go to the dance with them!" Lily fumed. "And I said no! I'm so –" Then she stopped, eyes widening. She stopped for a moment before breaking into a full-out run, going into one of the department stores and disappearing.

"Just leave her alone for a bit," Alice advised. "She'll calm down. In the meantime, let's see if we can find some dresses."

After about 30 minutes, Addy came over with a light pink dress. It sported a tulle skirt and a beaded and embroidered bodice.

"Oh, Addy, that one's really pretty," Chloe said, looking at the dress.

"And it's pink," Addy said, her face showing her pride in herself for finally finding a pink dress they approved of.

"You should get this one," Alice said excitedly.

"OK!" Addy said happily, bouncing off the check out.

"I don't think we'll find anything for Lily here," Chloe said after they had been searching for another 40 minutes.

"We haven't even found Lily yet," Alice pointed out.

"Maybe we should do so, and then go to different store," suggested Shelby.

The girls split up, wandering around the department store, calling for Lily. After searching for quite a bit, Alice finally found her sniffling in a corner.

"Lily, we're going to a different store now," Alice said.

"Just leave me here," Lily mumbled, hiding her face.

"Lily, get your butt off the floor and stop acting like a baby," Alice said sternly. Lily, who wasn't used to hearing Alice like this, immediately stood up. "Now let's go!" The two walked to the front of the store and found the other three waiting there.

"Lily!" Chloe said, flinging herself and her. "We were worried."

"Sorry," Lily said.

"Anyhow, we've got to find you a dress and we haven't got a whole ton of time! The train goes back at 8 so we've got to start back at like 6:30. Right now it's 3!" The next 2 stores had no dresses that they liked. By the time they set off to the next one, they were feeling a bit downcast.

"This is taking forever," Addy said. "They don't have anything for you!"

"It's like the stores have suddenly turned against us all!" Chloe added.

"Let's just go in here and see if there's anything," Alice said with a sigh, walking in. It had only been a few minutes when Alice said, "Omigosh, Lily come see this one!" They all scurried to see what Alice had found and saw an elegant strapless forest green fitted dress with a slight bunch up the left side and jewels sewn onto the fabric.

"Try it on!" Chloe said, pushing Lily and the dress to the nearest dressing room. She emerged moments later.

"It's perfect!" squealed Addy. "You look so good!"

"Buy it," Alice said, nodding vigorously. Lily beamed at them all and went to change back out, bought the dress, and then they began to go back to the train, all feeling that they'd had a satisfactory trip.

_**A/N: Another chapter after another week. Hope you all like it! It's pretty long...**_

_**Thank you for the reviews! 37 reviews is amazing. **_

_**I posted pictures of the dresses that the girls bought up on my profile. Hope you all like them :)**_

_**Comments? Constructive criticism? Reviews in general?  
-Naomi**_


	19. An Unthought Of Problem

_**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except what I own. So the things I wish I owned belong to JKRowling and the stuff that no one cares about is mine. Whatever. I'm just an unoriginal person, its okay…**_

Chapter 19

An Unthought-of Problem

"Lily!" gasped Chloe, suddenly freezing. She dropped her bottle of nail polish on the floor, spilling it all over the floor. Lily walked over and waved her wand, the nail polish flying magically back into the bottle.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked, sitting down cross-legged on the floor.

"I just realized something! We have a mega problem!" Chloe said in a state of panic.

"What's the problem?"

"It's an unthought-of problem!" Chloe said frantically.

"Is 'unthought' a word?" Alice asked, joining Chloe and Lily.

"Probably not," Lily said, "but that's not the point. We're trying to figure out what the 'unthought-of problem' actually is."

"Unthought is definitely a word," Addy said stubbornly, sitting down.

"Is it?" Shelby asked.

"Of course it is," Addy told her.

"I don't think so," Alice said thoughtfully.

"It doesn't matter!" Lily said. "Chloe, what's the problem? You've gotten all 4 of us over here."

"We don't have dates! We can't exactly go by ourselves!" Chloe said. "We got those amazing dresses and hair stuff and shoes and make-up and everything, but we don't have dates!

"Eh, whatever," Alice said. "Not a problem."

"What do you mean?" Lily said suspiciously. "Do you have a date?"

"What? Uh, no," Alice said, blushing scarlet and jumping to her feet, starting to run towards the exit of the dorm, but Lily and Chloe lunged, grabbing her ankles and dragging her back over.

"Who?" Chloe asked, pinning her to the floor and staring at her excitedly.

"Um, no one, I don't have a date, no way," Alice said nervously.

"Just spit it out," Lily told her.

Alice sighed and said, "Frank Longbottom asked me yesterday."

"Really?" squealed Addy, throwing herself at Alice to hug her. "You guys'll be _so_ cute together!"

"We're not dating," Alice said, blushing even redder.

"Don't kid yourself," Shelby said. "You're going to the dance together. It's almost inevitable, girl."

"Well then, Alice, you're unthought-of problem is solved. That just leaves the 4 of us to figure out who the heck we're going to the dance with," Chloe said, sounding slightly distressed.

"Lily almost solved her problem," Alice said. "But then she had to go and say no…"

"Shut up," Lily said, throwing a hairbrush (the nearest object she could find) at Alice.

"It's true, she could've said yeah to Jamsie," Chloe said. "But who would go to a dance with James? Ugh, an idiot if ever I saw one." Alice, Addy, and Shelby readily agreed, but Lily remained silent.

"Lils, you're not agreeing that James is an idiot?" Alice said, smiling mischievously.

"What?" Lily said, looking at Alice sharply.

"I really do think Lily likes him!" Alice said gleefully.

"I do not!" Lily said, her cheeks flaring a deeper red than they probably had ever been.

"Aww, she's blushing!" Chloe said. "You like Jamsie! You two should totally date and then get married because then we'd be related and could be like sisters and be best friends FOREVER!"

"No!" Lily said

"Oh yes," Alice said.

"Lily likes James?" Addy asked blankly.

"But of course she does," Alice said.

"Oh my gosh that's so cute!" Shelby squealed.

"No, I don't like him!" Lily said, blushing even harder. "I'm not going to the dance with him, I'm not going to date him, and I am most certainly NOT going to marry him!"

"Sure," Alice said smugly.

"Anyways, it doesn't matter if I do or don't because I'm not going to the dance with him and that's final," Lily said in a harsh tone. "I'm going… I'm going with… with…" she paused for a moment, trying to think of someone. "I'm going by myself. I don't want a date."

"Lily, you need a date!" Chloe said.

"Go with James," Alice said.

"No," Lily said.

"Alright, come with me," Alice said, grabbing Lily and dragging her downstairs to the common room, the others trailing behind. Before entering she turned her and said, "Just stand there quietly. I'm asking him for you and you can't do anything about it. Do if for me." She gave Lily a pleading look.

"Fine," Lily said tersely. Alice beamed at her then dragged her into the common room. Sirius, Remus, and Peter were sprawled in front of the fire. Chloe, Addy, and Shelby sat down in a few of the empty seats and began chatting again.

"Where's James?" Alice asked brightly. Sirius looked at her then turned his head and looked over at the other side of the room. James was standing and talking with Katelyn Purdue, a chaser on the Quidditch team. They walked a few steps closer but stopped a few yards off, their conversation barely audible.

"So Katelyn, would you like to go to the dance with me?" James asked casually. Katelyn looked at him in amazement.

"Yes!" she said happily, flinging herself at James in a fierce hug.

Alice turned and looked to look at Lily but saw only a blur of red rounding the corner up to the dorm.

_**A/N: I actually have no idea if 'unthought' is a word. I highly doubt it (and Microsoft Office Word did as well until I added it to the dictionary) but I think that it would make a most excellent word. **_

_**Aww, now Lily's going to go with someone else**_


	20. The Cumbersome Task of Finding Dates

_**Disclaimer: I don't own a lot of things. Leave it at that.**_

Chapter 20

The Cumbersome Task of Finding Dates

"Lily?" Alice said. "Time to get up for class."

"I don't want to get up," Lily mumbled.

"You have to get up; we have a test in Flitwick's class and in McGonagall's class."

"I don't care."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"You should care."

"But I don't."

"Lily, get out of bed!"

"No."

"Don't make me drag you out of there."

"You're too little."

"Oh no," Alice said, walking over. She threw the duvet off the bed. Lily huddled up in a ball.

"Stop it," she said, trying to grab the covers rather unsuccessfully.

"Lily, get up," Alice said, gritting her teeth. She grabbed Lily's right arm and leg and tugged her off the bed, landing them both on the stone floor with a loud thud.

"Go away," Lily said, wrenching her arm and leg away.

"Time for class!" Alice said irritably.

"No it isn't."

"Lily, if this is all because James asked someone else to the dance-"

"It is not!" Lily sat bolt upright, her green eyes watering with tears.

"Lily, it's fine," Alice said. "You don't like him, you've told us you hate him practically every since you met him. That teasing wasn't real; we all know the real Lily's just hiding inside there, about to burst out about how much she loathes James Potter."

A single tear rolled down Lily's cheek. She looked at Alice, a miserable expression plastered on her face as she spoke. "I don't think that's the real Lily."

Alice was silent. She stared at Lily, slightly shocked. "Do you mean-"

"Yeah, don't say it," Lily said, another tear rolling down her cheek. Then she threw herself back onto the bed, her face into the pillow. "I did the exact thing I swore I'd never do! I don't know why or how or what the heck is wrong with me! Maybe I have a fever and it's making me delusional. Maybe I'm just losing my mind. It doesn't matter what's wrong, only that… that…" Lily took a deep breath and sat up, looking Alice straight in the eyes. "I kind of like him."

Another silence followed this. Then Alice's face broke out into a broad smile. She giggled and threw herself at Lily, giving her a tight hug. "Finally!"

"We seriously need dates," Chloe said. "By the end of today, we had better all have one to the dance. If we don't, then well… we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Don't be so commanding," grumbled Shelby.

"I already have a date," Alice piped up.

"Oh, shut up," Addy said, tossing a pillow at her. "Don't rub it in our faces how you're so special."

"I'm just saying that none of this applies to me," Alice said.

"I'm sure you are," Addy said irritably.

"Anyways," Chloe said. "Dates by the end of the day!" With that, the girls went their separate ways.

"Lily, just ask some random person to go with you," Alice said with a shrug. "Doesn't really matter who. You don't have to like them or anything, just… be chaperoned by them."

"But it totally does matter who," Lily moaned as they walked down the corridor to transfiguration.

"Don't be so picky," Alice said. "Ask John Hopkins, he's pretty nice."

"No way," Lily said, wrinkling her nose.

"Thomas Brown?"

"Eww."

"Matthew Edwards?"

"Never."

"What about…" Alice trailed off, trying to think of someone else.

"Hey, Lily?" asked a voice. The girls turned and saw Robert Mason, a tall boy with dark brown hair and pale blue eyes standing behind them. He was a seventh year and was playing for the fourth year in a row as a chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

"Oh, hi, Robert," Lily said, smiling slightly.

"I, uh, was wondering," he said slightly nervously, "if you'd like to go to the holiday dance with me?"

Alice nudged Lily, who was staring at him, her mouth slightly open. She jumped, then smiled, saying, "Oh, sure." Robert smiled at them and walked away, looking very pleased.

"Well, that problem's solved, isn't it?" Alice said with a laugh.

"Oh my gosh, it's practically impossible to find anyone without a date to the dance!" Chloe said, slumping onto her bed later that night. "I asked like, five guys before I finally found someone who hadn't asked anyone yet."

"At least you found a date," Shelby said, looking at Chloe in amusement.

Chloe said bolt upright. "You didn't find a date?" she asked.

"Oh, I found a date," Shelby said. "But poor Kayla Nelson was telling me that she'd asked like, ten people and they'd all had dates already."

"Poor Kayla," Alice said.

"I'm going with Jason Blake!" Addy said excitedly.

"Aww, you're lucky, you are," Chloe said enviously. "I'm going with Mark Jacobsen."

"I'm going with Carter Johnson," Shelby said. "Nothing special."

"Hey, Lils, you get a date?"Chloe asked.

"'Course she got a date," Alice said, throwing herself beside Lily. "Tell them"

"Robert Mason," Lily said.

"Oh. My. Gosh." Chloe stared at Lily. "You're going to the dance with freaking Robert Mason?"

"Yeah," Lily replied. "He asked me earlier."

"You know what? I'm not talking to you," Chloe said in mock seriousness, walking away before coming right back. "You are like, the luckiest person on earth!" Lily shrugged and got into bed, snuggling under the covers.

"Could've been luckier," she said quietly.

_**A/N: 'nuther chapter finally. Hope y'all like it.**_

_**Ok, 43 reviews? I seriously LOVE you guys 3**_

_**Anon – write more? Of course! And thank you :)**_

_**Cassie Cayne – Thanks, and I know it's a pretty bad ending to the chapter. Not a very happy thing… I'll try to do better with the numbers. Thank you for telling me!**_

_**Pebbles827 – Thank you! And I think that they'll be getting together fairly soon… **_

_**Writergal24 – lol yeah. I didn't want everything to go so simply. I understand extreme hyperness (my normal self) and extreme exhaustion (my other normal self). And if anyone can relate to "busy," it has got to be me ;) I'm in far too many activities for my own well-being. Take your time!**_

_**1hannah1 – I was kind of tearing up a bit at the end, too, but while writing it. And thanks! **_

_**I love you guys! 3 Best reviewers EVAH.**_

_**I'll try to update soon! This week's going to be mega insane, though. I have rehearsal and church and all my normal stuff, but I also am getting a tooth pulled and a root canal. Nice job, me, nice job. I'm not going into any more detail about how bad my stupid teeth are so… well, happy reading and stuff.**_

_**-Naomi**_


	21. The Dance

_**Disclaimer: I do not have the pleasure of owning James, Lily, Alice, and a great many other wonderful characters.**_

Chapter 21

The Dance

Lily was having a lovely day. It was Friday and all of her classes were over. She had just returned from lunch, and tomorrow she left on the train to go to Chloe's for Christmas. There was the dance later tonight, no homework to worry about, and the common room was empty, leaving it quite calm and quiet. Lily was sitting on the red sofa before the fire, snuggled comfortably in the corner, watching the flames in the fireplace crackle and curl. She couldn't remember a time she had been quite so peaceful.

And then Shelby came in.

"LILY!" she shrieked, dashing down the corridor and into the common room from the portrait hole entrance. "It's almost one o'clock!"

"What?" Lily said, looking up. "Oh. Well, that's nice. One o'clock is a good time of the day."

"Lily!" Shelby said urgently. "We have to go start getting ready!"

Lily gave Shelby a reproachful look. "Get ready? As in, get ready for the dance?"

"Yes!" Shelby said.

"It's one o'clock," Lily said.

"Exactly!" Shelby said exasperatedly. "Come _on!_"

"We have _hours_," Lily said. "Wait until like, four or something."

"Lily! We have to get ready NOW!" Shelby sounded angry at this point. Lily sighed and stood up.

"Fine. But after I'm ready, since it'll only take me like, maybe an hour tops, you have to let me sit alone in peace, 'kay?" Lily said irritably.

Shelby bobbed her head before grabbing Lily's arm and dragging her upstairs to the dorm.

"Shelby, seriously, calm down. I'm fine. My nails are done, I'm in my dress, I have so much make-up on that I think it might suffocate me, my hair is been put up and down, combed and pulled, styled and restyled so much that I have a killer headache, and my feet hurt from wearing these accursed heels!" Lily exploded after several (hundred it seemed) hours. It was now about ten minutes until eight and all five girls were just about ready for the dance.

"Lily, you have practically no make-up on!" Shelby whined. "You only have eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow, blush, lipstick, lip-shine, base –"

"That's way too much," Lily interrupted.

"But-"

"Seriously, I'm fine without any more stupid make-up," Lily said, scowling and pushing away Shelby's hand.

"Fine. Well, why don't you go do your hair?" Shelby said, putting more make-up on her own face.

"Well, I hope you're thoroughly satisfied," Lily said. "You used up half my day to get me looking exactly like I normally do and now I don't have any time to just sit and relax!"

"That's the point," Shelby said, pursing her lips in slight irritation. "If you sit and relax, you'll mess up your dress, make-up, or hair! It's inevitilible!"

Lily looked at Shelby in amusement. "Inevitilible?"

"Yeah," Shelby said. "It's inevitilible that you'll mess something up."

"You mean inevitable, don't you?" Lily said, stifling a giggle.

"Whatever the word is!" Shelby said exasperatedly. "It doesn't matter. You know what I'm trying to say."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Lily said rolling her eyes.

"Guys! We like, have got to go!" Addy said loudly. "We have like, 5 minutes until the dance starts!" Shelby screamed and dropping her bag of make-up. Alice giggled.

"They look so freaked out," she said to Lily as the two of them watched Chloe, Shelby, and Addy run about the room, adding on last minute touches to their look.

"Let's just go downstairs," Lily suggested. Alice nodded in agreement and the two walked stealthily to the door and down the spiral steps. The common room was jam-packed with people – couples who seemed to be getting ready to leave, singles looking for their date, singles looking for anyone to be their date, and the younger students watching those going to the dance with jealousy.

"Just keep going," Alice said as she pushed through the crowd. "I'm meeting Frank downstairs. Where are you meeting Robert?"

"Downstairs," Lily said. "I didn't really want to meet up in the common room. I had a feeling it'd look like this." She motioned to the noisy throng behind them. They made their way quickly downstairs, arriving in the main hall at about one minute 'til eight.

"I'll see you later," Alice said, spotting Frank and skipping off. Lily sighed and searched the slightly less crazy pack of students for Robert. She found him near the doors, looking off into the crowd with a serious look on his face as his eyes scanned the group. When he saw Lily, he smiled happily and walked over.

"Hello," he said, grinning cheerfully.

"Hi," Lily said, smiling back.

The doors leading into the great hall (which had been converted into a ballroom). The decorations, mostly designed by Shelby, Addy, and Chloe, had turned the room from a dining hall into the most elegant room Lily had ever seen.

"Wow," Lily breathed.

"This must've taken forever to design," Robert said, looking around at the room.

"It only took a very short time," Lily said. "Chloe, Addy, and Shelby did it."

"Really?" Robert asked. "They're good." Lily let out a quiet laugh and began to make her way towards the far end of the room where a few round tables were set up for students not dancing to sit and converse stood unoccupied. At about 8:05, the music started up. "Do you want to dance?" he asked her.

"Sure," Lily said, following him to the floor. She remained silent for the song and by the end, Robert looked a bit bored. They sat back down at the table for the next few songs. After a while, Lily stood up and went over to the refreshment table, getting a cup of water.

"Hey!" someone said from behind her. She turned and saw Chloe and her date.

"Hi," Lily said, smiling. "How's it going?"

"Most excellently," Chloe said, looking at Mark happily. "And yours?"

"Fine, I guess," Lily said with a shrug. "I'm going to go sit down – see you later." She walked back to the table and found it empty. She spotted Robert dancing with Olivia Mallard, the two of them talking animatedly. The song ended and Robert noticed Lily back at the table. He walked quickly over, apologizing as he came.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have gone and danced with other people –"

"It's fine," Lily said. "Go ahead! You two looked like you were having a lot of fun."

"Are you sure?" Robert stammered, slightly taken back. "Because if you want-"

"It's fine, go have fun," Lily said.

Robert smiled. "Thanks," he said, going back to Olivia. Lily sat down with a sigh, watching the dancers sway back and forth, some talking with each other, some just happily swaying, and girls with their heads against their partner's chest, looking completely at ease. She caught sight of Alice and Frank, both talking quietly to each other. Alice looked completely happy, her eyes shining. Her eyes traveled a bit, but then she saw James and Katelyn dancing nearby and she felt her hands clench. Katelyn was wearing a rather revealing dress that went a bit low, had nearly see through fabric, fit her figure far too tightly, and had a slit that went a bit too high up for Lily's taste. She felt her stomach clench when she saw James looking at her happily. She looked away for a moment and when she looked back up, Katelyn was wrapping her arms around James's neck before going up on tiptoes and pressing her lips to his. Lily felt the air rush out of her lungs. She felt like someone had just thrust a dagger through her heart. She leapt to her feet, feeling her eyes welling up with tears. She ran out of the great hall, covering her face with her hands to hide the tears that were streaming down her cheeks.

Now, if Lily had just waited for a minute longer, she might not have been in such a state.

James pushed Katelyn away from him and took a step back, looking at her in horror and wiping off his lips with his hand. "What are you doing?" he asked her. He looked over and saw Lily running out of the ball room. He looked back at Katelyn. "What are you thinking?" he asked her angrily.

"What?" Katelyn asked, looking at him innocently.

James scowled at her and stormed off the floor, looking around anxiously for Lily. He walked around the room, trying to find her rather unsuccessfully, but managing to run headlong into Sirius, knocking him several feet backwards.

"Oi! Watch where you're going, mate!" Sirius yelped. He noticed the distressed look on James's face and asked, "What's up with you, Prongs?"

"D' you know where Lily went?" James asked him distractedly.

"And why on Earth would I know that?" Sirius asked James, who sighed anxiously and bolted off again. He saw Chloe and Shelby standing nearby, chatting excitedly.

"Do either of you know where Lily is?" James asked them.

"No, I haven't seen her for a while," Chloe answered.

"Last I saw her was before she deserted us in the dormitory," Shelby replied tartly. James jogged off to Alice, who was standing near the door.

"Have you seen Lily?" he asked her, now breathless.

"Uh, yeah," Alice said, looking at James curiously. "I was about to go after her. She ran out and upstairs."

James ran out and up the stairs, peering into classrooms and listening for any signs of where she might be. He reached the top floor, panting with exhaustion, his face red with exertion. He listened intently and heard a muffled sound coming from somewhere down the hall. He walked as quietly as he could towards it, stopping outside a classroom door from which the sounds emanated from. James took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Lily was huddled in the corner, her knees up against her chest, her arms wrapped around them. She looked over at the door when it opened, and upon seeing James, hid her face and said, "Go away."

James walked over and crouched down beside her. "Lily…"

"Just go away," Lily's muffled voice said, cracking as she spoke. "Go back to Katelyn."

"It wasn't what you think –" started James.

Lily looked up, her bright green eyes red-rimmed and puffy, and filled with anger. "It wasn't what I thought? You took her to the dance, you were staring at her like… like… well you know what I mean. And then you…you… you _kissed_ her!"

"I didn't kiss her," James said. "We were just dancing and then… then…" He trailed off, unsure of what to say. "She got up and kissed me."

"You are _not _completely blameless," Lily said in a harsh tone, looking away.

James didn't say anything for a moment. Then, "I'm really, really sorry, Lily," in barely a whisper.

Lily looked up at him again, this time her eyes less angry. "Wha…what?"

"I'm really, truly sorry," James repeated. "I've been such an idiot. I don't know what else I can say. I… I…" He trailed off, a pained expression on his face.

Lily looked at him for a moment before and saying, "I guess I should be sorry as well."

James looked up. "Why are you sorry? You have every right to hate me forever," he replied miserably.

"I'd say that if either of us have a right to hate the other, you should hate me. You were always trying to be nice and everything, but I was so rude and I always just… I just… I'm sorry," Lily said, her eyes (which had just stopped tearing up) began to well with tears again.

"Don't cry, "James said, putting an arm around her. "It's not your fault. All that stuff you used to say to me was completely true. I was self-centered and arrogant and –" Lily cut him off by sitting up a little higher and pressing her lips gently to his. James, more than a little surprised by this but not at all displeased, put his arms around her back. Lily pulled herself closer, her arms wrapped around his neck. In this moment, all cares seemed to fly from Lily's mind. They pulled apart, both a little shocked at what had just happened. Then reality came rushing back to Lily and she looked at James with wide eyes.

"I… I… I…" she stuttered, getting clumsily to her feet. "I have to go," she said, running out of the room.

_**A/N: I hope you guys like it! Here's my big tada moment – the dance. I hope it doesn't disappoint anyone's expectations.**_

_**Writergal24 – take as long as you need ;) and thank you very much. Here's the dance! ^.^ hope you like it**_

_**Possibly get 50 reviews by next chapter? I know that's high hopes, especially since I only got 1 for chapter 20… but I can hope! If I can just get 47 or 48 I'll be pretty happy.**_

_**-Naomi**_


	22. Reactions

_**Disclaimer: Don't own.**_

_**NOTE:: I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT POSTING SOONER. My account had... technical difficulties. I've had this chapter finished for a few weeks now but it wouldn't let me edit my stories. Now it's all fixed and here it is! Hope it doesn't disappoint.**_

Chapter 22

Reactions

_What was I thinking? How could I do that? How could I have been so stupid? _Lily ran down the hall and down the stairs, almost tripping over her dress several times before reaching the portrait hole.

"Password?" the fat lady asked in a giggly high pitched voice as she tipped a glass of wine into her mouth.

"Baubles," Lily replied, waiting for the portrait to swing forward before running through and up to her dormitory. She sat on her bed, in a state of shock. She, Lily Evans, and just kissed him, James Potter. That wasn't right. She had admitted to Alice that she liked him, but she really hadn't honestly believed herself. Until now. And then she had to ruin it by running away, leaving him alone upstairs in the cold classroom, trying to figure out what he had done wrong…

"How could I have been so stupid?" Lily groaned, throwing herself backwards so her face was buried in her pillow. There was no doubt about it. She had fallen for James Potter – and she had fallen hard.

James (as Lily had accurately assumed) was currently sitting in the corner of the classroom where, a moment before, Lily had kissed him. Then she had run away. Why?

Why would Lily kiss him? Why would she run away? Well of course the latter was because it was him. She always left when he was around. But why had she kissed him? And it hadn't just been an innocent peck on the cheek.

James got to his feet and walked slowly out of the classroom and down the hall. He was sure that he had blown everything with her now. He began to descend the staircase, planning on going back to the common room. When he reached the seventh floor, however, he didn't leave the stairwell. He stood on the landing, thinking. Lily had most likely gone back to the common room – there was no way she'd have gone back to the dance. But Katelyn was at the dance and he most certainly did NOT want to see her. He continued down the stairs and back to the great hall, deciding that upsetting Lily and more would only damage any chances he had and that he could just avoid Katelyn. He arrived in the great hall a while later, taking his time on the way down through the corridors. When he got there, he crossed to the tables and sat down in a vacant corner.

"Hey! What's wrong with you, Prongs?" Sirius asked, sitting down beside him a few minutes later.

"What?" James said, looking up. "Oh, it's you, Padfoot."

"You ok, mate?" Sirius asked. "You don't seem quite yourself."

"I'm fine," James replied.

"You're not fine," Sirius said. "Even I can tell that."

"I'm perfectly alright," James said in a snappy tone.

"Calm down, Prongs," Sirius said. "I'll be right back…" He slipped off into the crowd, returning a moment later with Remus. "Figure out what's wrong."

Remus looked at James for a moment before saying, "Hey, you ok?"

"I'm ok," James said. "Really. Nothing's wrong."

"I'm telling you, there's something wrong," Sirius said insistently.

"Shut up, Padfoot, you're just making it worse," Remus said tiredly.

"I agree with Moony," James said.

"Have any of you seen Lily?" asked Alice, walking up to their group. "I haven't been able to find her for a while. Actually, I haven't seen her since we got in here."

"I haven't seen her," Sirius said, shrugging. "I'm not her bodyguard."

"No idea where she is," Remus said. "Sorry I can't be of any more help –" He paused and turned back to James. "This isn't about Lily is it? Do you know where she is?"

James didn't reply.

"Do you know where Lily is?" Alice asked him, stepping forward. "It isn't like her to just wander off and not come back. I mean, I haven't seen her for almost two hours!"

"I saw her a little while ago, yeah," James said. "I think she went back to the common room, but I'm not sure."

"Thanks," Alice said, dashing off.

"Think we ought to go along?" Remus said.

"Let's go!" Sirius said, running after Alice.

"You coming?" Remus asked James.

"I… think I'll stay here. I don't think Lily wants to see me," James replied hesitantly.

"You'll be fine," Remus said. "Come on."

"No, really, "James said.

"What went on earlier between you two?"

"Nothing, it was nothing," James answered.

"Sure, nothing," Remus answered sarcastically. "Nothing makes you suddenly deny a chance to see Lily Evans, the girl who you've liked since first year."

"Well…" James trailed off.

"Well?" Remus said.  
"I don't want to talk about it here," James said.

"Then come out and tell me while we go up to the common room," Remus said, dragging James out of the great hall and beginning upstairs. "So what happened?"

"I… uh… well…" James stuttered, unable to say anything clearly. "It… I… uh…"

"Oh, just say it, for goodness sake!" Remus said rather irritably.

"I was dancing with Katelyn, right?" James began.

"Yeah," Remus said. "I don't see why the heck you asked her to the dance. What do you see in her?"

"Absolutely nothing," James replied miserably. "I just needed a date and Lily had turned me down so I asked her."

"Back judgment," Remus said. "Anyways, go on."

"So, we were dancing and Katelyn got up and kissed me," James said, wrinkling his nose in distaste. "It was horrid."

"What?" yelped Remus, looking absolutely disgusted.

"It was the worst thing that's ever happened to me," James said. "And Lily was sitting there and saw. I watched her get up and leave and I followed. I found her up on the top floor, sitting in a classroom, crying…" James trailed off, his face clouding over for a moment.

"And?" Remus said after a few minutes of silence.

"I went over and tried to comfort her. She was so upset and I was just trying to help and then… then… she kissed me."

Remus stared at James dumbfounded. "She _kissed_ you?" he said in shock.

"Then she ran away," James sighed.

"Well, I guess you're having a very romance-filled night. Two kisses from two girls," Remus teased.

"Shut up and let's go find Lily," James blushed and ran up the stairs.

The next morning was possibly one of the most insane mornings Lily had ever experienced up until that point in time. She had been asleep by the time her friends had found her up in their dormitory. They had all woken up extra early to pack their belongings, find out what happened the night before, and make the train to go to Chloe's for Christmas. The five girls all ran frantically here and there. Clothing was thrown randomly across the floor and each girl was trying to retrieve every possession of theirs while interrogating Lily about what on earth had happened.

It took them about an hour to finish getting ready and get the truth out of Lily. They all squealed in delight, Shelby running and tackling her in excitement. The girls then proceeded to drag their heavy trunks and extra bags down the steps, Lily stopping and shrinking hers halfway there to ease the burden, before rushing out the door and into the snow. Addy whined that her new shoes were going to be ruined before plunging in after her friends to make their way towards the train.

They reached their destination and claimed a compartment a few minutes later. Shelby and Addy had decided that it would be a good idea to go and find the lady with sweets before they left the station to be sure that they got the treats they wanted and Chloe tagged along, leaving Lily and Alice alone.

"Tell me everything about it," Alice demanded.

"I… it was nothing… I was upset and he came in. I wasn't in my right mind," Lily babbled. "It was a spur of the moment and I wish I'd never done it and now he'll have the wrong idea and –"

"Oh stop lying," Alice rolled her eyes. "You're only making yourself look like an idiot. I know you meant to do it, even if you didn't realize it."

Lily was silent for a moment, deep in thought. She looked at Alice. "I guess you're right," she whispered. Alice beamed and her before giving her a bone crushing hug.

"Now all you have to do is find James and-"

"No!" Lily shrieked. "I can't tell him!"

"Why not? You totally like him and you just admitted it."

"I can't," Lily wailed. "Not after six years of saying no and being so unkind."

"You are _so_ difficult, girl," Alice said, leaning back and staring out the window as the train jerked to a start.

_**A/N: REVIEWS! I 3 YOU GUYS SO MUCH! 53 reviews? You're amazing. I'm so sorry I haven't updated!**_

_**J. A. Hastings – thank you! And yes, they kissed ;) that part made me excited**_

_**Writingfoundme – thank you!**_

_**Writergal24 – lol yupp! Your schedule sounds exactly like my friends in band who're in the play with me. Both have big parts and they had a concert on Thursday. Scary busy schedules are understood!**_

_**Irebeccal – I know you didn't review this chapter but… thanks for the review! **_

_**HypedUpOnSugar24 – Yes, I am happy :) I'll try to make the chapters longer. I'm not so great at making them longer because I tend to end up ranting about random stuff and then everyone gets super duper bored out of their minds like you probably are if you're reading my response to your review. I'll stop talking now.**_

_**Theothermormon – lol your review really made my day. 50**__**th**__** review! Plus you're Mormon. Any better? I dunno… ;)**_

_**Just Another Book Lover – Yeah, I'm going to finish. I'm sorry. I just had my play and I've been crazy busy. Plus writing a bit on fictionpress as well. Thank you very much.**_

_**1hannah1 – thanks!**_

_**Elena Fisher – here! Update! Tada!**_

_**You guys are awesome! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Again, I'm terribly sorry for the awfully long wait.**_

_**-Naomi**_


	23. Missing

**Disclaimer: Even after all these months, I still don't own Harry Potter**

Chapter 23

Missing

"Lily." Alice prodded Lily's face with a finger. "Lily. Lily. Lily." She continued poking Lily's face until finally Lily stirred.

"Go 'way," she mumbled sleepily, shoving her hand in Alice's face and pushing her away.

"Stop it. The train ride is over, sleepy head," Alice said, resuming her poking of Lily's face.

"No, it isn't," said Lily, pushing Alice away again.

"Lily!" Alice whined. "You can't stay on the train all Christmas break!"

"Watch me," Lily replied grumpily. "Idowannageddup."

"Please?" begged Alice.

"No."

"I'll make you cookies."

Lily's eyes opened. "Special soft ginger cookies rolled in cinnamon and sugar?"

"You betcha."

Lily shot up, grabbed her bag, and looked at Alice. "Let's go! What're we waiting for?" Alice chuckled quietly and the two hurried to get off the train. It was beginning to pull out as they leapt off. Alice crashed the ground and Lily landed right on top of James.

"What the –" James cried as they tumbled to the ground. He realized that it was Lily who had slammed into him and stopped. Lily, on the other hand, hadn't realized who she'd hit.

"I'm sorry! Oh, I'm so incredibly sorry! Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" she cried embarrassedly. "I'm so sorry, I –" Then she stopped, finally seeing who it was. She rolled over to the ground with an "oof!" James quickly got to his feet and offered her a hand to get up. Lily, blushing scarlet, allowed him to help her before grabbing her bags and tugging Alice along with her towards Chloe, Shelby, and Addy. James just stared after her, not moving from where he was.

"What on earth…?" said Remus confusedly. "I swear, the Lily that we've seen this year is not the same one we've known all these years. Sliding down banisters, jumping off trains," then, in an undertone he added, "kissing you…" He shook his head. "What is this world coming to?"

The five girls left King's Cross and found a quiet ally nearby from which they disapperated, appearing in the Scott family's front hall.

"MOM! DAD! We're HOOOOOOOOOME!" screamed Chloe, flinging her luggage down and throwing her coat, scarf, gloves, and hat off. No one replied to her screamed greeting, causing Chloe to become very confused. "I'll be back," she muttered, going and looking around the house for her parents unsuccessfully. She returned to them and shrugged. "Work, I guess."

"Alice promised she'd make me special soft ginger cookies rolled in cinnamon and sugar," Lily informed the others.

"I didn't promise," Alice pointed out. "I merely said I would. No promise in that."

"Same difference," Lily said with a heavy sigh. "Make me cookies!"

"I'll help! I love cookies," squealed Shelby.

"Me, too," Addy said, skipping off to the kitchen with Alice and Shelby. Chloe looked at Lily.

"I don't think my parents are at work," she said. "They said they were taking the day off to be home to see us. They would have told me if they had to change their plans."

Lily, seeing that Chloe was nervous, quickly reassured her, saying, "I'm sure they're fine. They probably got the arrival time and are out getting groceries or something like that." Chloe nodded, though she didn't look quite convinced. In an attempt to get her mind off her parents, Lily said, "Hey, you mentioned that you rearranged you room before school. You have gotta show me!"

Chloe grinned. "It's awesome. Come on!"

By midnight, Chloe wasn't the only one concerned about Mr. and Mrs. Scott's whereabouts. An uncomfortable silence had settled on the girls as they sat in the kitchen, the cookies untouched (a very rare and concerning situation).

"I sincerely doubt they're at the grocery store," Chloe said to Lily, looking at her anxiously.

"It'll be alright," Lily said, hugging her friend.

"Maybe we should go to bed," suggested Alice. "They'll be back by morning."

Shelby shook her head. "As if I could sleep right now."

"Sometimes I wish that people had locator chips or something," Alice said. "Then we'd only have to use a tracker to see exactly where they were and what was keeping them."

"You know, they could possibly still be at work," Addy said. "Maybe it was like, super last minute. Or the owl got lost. Or died of frostbite halfway to Hogwarts."

"Way to be morbid, Addy," Lily said, chuckling a bit.

"Why don't we see if my parents know where they are?" suggested Addy. "I mean, our moms are sisters. Or maybe James's mom would know. She's their sister, too."

"Let's try your mom first," Lily replied quickly.

"Mmkay," Chloe said miserably. "Whatever."

"They're fine, I'm sure," Lily soothed. "Let's go." They disapperated, only to appear in Addy's house.

"Hey, mom? Dad?" she called, running upstairs to check their room. She returned a moment later, confused. "They aren't here either." She paused before said, "Well, maybe they're just out. They don't expect me to be home."

"I guess we should ask Mrs. Potter," Shelby said. They apperated to the front porch, knocking and hoping someone was awake. The door swung open and revealed James, who looked at them in confusion.

"Um, hi," he said awkwardly.

"Who is it?" asked Sirius, bounding into view. "What are you doing here?"

"Can we talk to Aunt Amy?" asked Addy, shivering from cold.

"Uh, sure," James replied. "Mom! People here for you!"

"Are you gonna let us in or are we gonna freeze our butts off on your porch?" asked Addy.

"Oh, uh right," James said hurriedly. "Come in."

Mrs. Potter came down a moment later to see the five girls trying to warm up by the fire in the family room. "Is something wrong?" she asked them.

Chloe nodded but said nothing. Addy answered, "Chloe's parents aren't home and haven't been all day. Shelby's parents aren't home either and we're a bit concerned."

"Plus Chloe's house is so crazy big it kind of scares me when it's just us," piped up Shelby.

Mrs. Potter looked a bit worried. "Kara, Brent, Lissa, and Mike aren't home?" she murmured. "Give me a few moments. I'm going to pop into work and see if they're at work." She disappeared, leaving the teenagers alone in the room. Everyone stared at each other a bit awkwardly, unsure of what to say. Finally, Sirius spoke up and said,

"Why don't we all play a game?"

"You're kidding, right?" said Shelby, giving him an odd look.

"What? It might be fun," Sirius protested. "And I hate silences!"

"Can you please be serious for once?" said Shelby.

Sirius looked extremely confused. "I'm always Sirius," he replied, causing everyone else in the room to laugh. "What did I say?" he asked, sounding a bit hurt.

"We didn't mean you're name," Lily told him. "You're name is Sirius as in s-i-r-i-u-s. Shel meant _serious, _as in s-e-r-i-o-u-s."

"Um, I knew that," Sirius said. Then, "What does serious, as in not my name, mean?"

"It's the complete opposite of you," replied Alice. "Anything you aren't is what it is."

"That doesn't explain what it means," grumped Sirius.

"It means… sort of quiet and concentrated. When you're serious, you aren't goofy; you focus on the task at hand," Lily informed him.

"Oh," Sirius said. "I'm telling you, my parents are the biggest idiots of the face of the planet. Why would they name me Sirius if I'm not serious in the slightest? I mean, really!"

The minutes ticked by and the group fell silent again. It had been nearly an hour when Mrs. Potter reappeared in the living room. The teens jumped up, eager to hear what news she brought.

"No one's sure where they are," she told them. "For the time being, you five are to stay here with me. If Chloe and Addy's parents are in a spot of trouble, that may put you two in that situation as well if you aren't careful."

"Can we get our things from Chloe's house at least?" requested Alice.

"Of course. Be quick about it, though," Mrs. Potter said. The girls disapperated grabbed their bags from the foyer and apperated back to the Potters' house. "Why don't you go get changed? I'll set up the fold out bed and some sleeping bags," suggested Mrs. Potter.

"Thanks, Mrs. Potter," said Alice, smiling gratefully.

"Please, call me Amy," she replied, smiling in return. The girls, led by Addy, walked to the guest room and changed in silence, finding five large and squishy laid out upon their return. James, Sirius, and Remus sat on the couch (Peter had gone to his own home for the break), Sirius casting the girls an upset look.

"So, looks like we'll all be here for a bit," he said grumpily.

"Deal with it," Alice said, flipping the lights off and plunging the room into darkness and the five girls lay down to go sleep, leaving the boys to stumble back to their rooms.

**A/N: sorry for so long a wait... I really am. And also for a rather bad end to the chapter. I'll try to write more soon... Super sorry :( and this is supposed to be my fav chapter (23 is my fav number)**

**I'll reply to reviews next chapter 'cause I'm feeling lazy right now (and I have to go)**

**-Naomi**


	24. Potter's House

**Disclaimer: Still don't own the characters for the most part…**

Chapter 24

Potter's House

The girls woke up and were moving about surprisingly quickly the following morning. Shelby woke up when she banged her heel into the sofa, then, excited by the smell of pancakes, eggs, and bacon wafting in from the kitchen, accidentally kicking Alice in the head as she got up. Alice, frightened by the rude awakening, yelped and rolled over on top of Lily, clutching her head. Lily shrieked and sat up, knocking Alice on top of Addy, who shoved her off and punched Chloe in the nose as she did so. Five minutes later, they were all sitting in the kitchen, nursing a bruise.

"What time is it?" asked Addy, yawning widely.

"Ten o'clock," replied Amy Potter as she flipped the pancakes. "I wasn't expecting you to wake up for a while. The boys don't get out of bed until one o'clock or so."

"Lucky them!" Alice said, glaring at the ceiling.

"Nah, not really," Chloe said. "_They_ don't get Aunt Amy's breakfast. She's the best cook in like, the whole entire world." Shelby, who had nicked a pancake from the plate by the stove, nodded vigorously.

"These are great!" she exclaimed, reaching for more.

Chloe slapped her friend's arm good-naturedly. "Wait until it's all done," she said, laughing at Shelby's enthusiasm for her aunt's cooking.

Amy finished the food quickly and put generous amounts on each of the girls' plates. She waved her wand and the plates floated over and landed softly in front of them, followed by five glasses of orange juice. Shelby nearly screamed in delight as she dug in, the other four girls watching her in amusement. Shelby, however, didn't seem to realize they were staring and was quickly finishing her plate of food and was glancing at Alice's plate, so the other four began eating.

"I think I'm going to half to agree with you two," Alice said as she finished her bacon. "Amy, you are the _best_ cook _ever_."

Amy smiled gratefully. "I'm just going to go get ready for work," she said, leaving the girls in the kitchen to fight over the leftovers. By the time Amy had changed into her robes and arrived back in the kitchen, there was hardly a crumb to be found. "Looks like the boys'll have to fend for themselves, won't they?" she said. "Can you girls make sure they're up by twelve? I don't want them to sleep the day away."

"Sure thing," Addy said cheerfully, reaching over to Chloe's place and grabbing a leftover crumb.

"I'll see you guys later," Amy said. There was a little _pop_ and she was gone.

"Guys, it's 12 o'clock," Alice said, staring boredly at the clock hanging on the wall.

"So?" Chloe said as she hung upside down from the back of the couch.

"We're supposed to wake the boys up," Shelby said with a sigh. "This is gonna be horrid."

"We could just leave them there and tell Amy they're lazy butts," suggested Addy, "but lying isn't a good idea."

"We should go get them I guess," Shelby said.

"Do we have to?" Lily asked, not sure if she really wanted to go see James quite yet. Shelby, Addy, and Chloe traipsed upstairs a bit sullenly, leaving Alice to drag Lily up.

"Come on," she said as they were halfway up, Lily laying sprawled on the steps, her ankle held in Alice's hands from pulling her up.

"I don't want to help," Lily complained.

"Hey, Alice, Lily, you guys coming?" asked Addy, her head peeking around the corner from the top of the steps.

"No." Lily grumpily crossed her arms, looking like a petulant child.

"Yeah, she's just heavy," Alice said.

"You are a witch, you know," Addy said. "Plus you're over 17. Magic is allowed."

"Oh yeah!" Alice said, whipping her wand out and waving it about. Lily floated up a couple inches then shot upstairs. She shrieked in surprise as Alice waved her wand once more and Lily fell to the carpeted floor.

"One day soon you just aren't going to wake up," Lily said as she followed Addy to the boys' room, Alice trailing behind to be sure Lily didn't sneak off.

"On the count of three, we're gonna flip on the lights, shoot sparks, and jump on them," Shelby said, a mischievous grin on her face. "One… two… THREE!" She turned the lights on and shot bring red sparks from her wand, as did the other four, laughing hysterically as they pounced on the unsuspecting victims. Sirius screamed a very high pitched and girlish scream, leapt up, and ran from the room and crying something about a monster attacking him. Remus emerged from beneath his covers, looking groggy and confused.

"What's goin' on?" he asked, his words slightly slurred.

"Time to wake up!" Addy said. "If you don't get out of bed soon, we'll have to use a tickling charm." She brandished her wand with an evil look.

"Go away," mumbled James. "'S my house."

"Technically it's your mum and dad's house," Addy corrected, "and they've said we can stay here. Your mum also said to get you up. We're only being obedient."

James shot a glare at Addy, who smiled innocently in return. He sat up and ran a hand through his tousled hair, rubbing his eyes. Then, as if deciding that it was too much work to stay sitting up, he collapsed onto his pillow once more. Addy immediately shot a tickling spell his way and James, bent over double, clutching his sides and wheezing from laughter, cried, "I'm up! I'm up! Just stop it!" Addy, however, didn't reverse the charm – Remus had pulled out his wand and put a tickling charm on her as well, so she was bent over, giggling and trying mutter the counter-curse rather unsuccessfully.

"When I stop this stupid thing," she wheezed, looking at Remus, "you are in so much trouble."

Lily took pity on the two after five minutes of endless laughing and performed the counter charm on both Addy and James. Shelby, Chloe, Addy, and Remus left the room to find Sirius, leaving Lily Alice, and James.

"Thanks, Evans," James said, trying to meet her eyes. Lily nodded a bit stiffly, avoiding looking at his face, and left the room as well. "D'you know what's wrong with Evans?" he asked her, his eyes pleading.

Alice looked at him a bit uncomfortably before replying, "The Holiday dance." Then, in an almost angry and accusatory tone, she said, "This is Lily and your problem. You need to sort it out, not me." With that, she turned and left the room as well.

"You seem mighty quiet today, Prongsie," Sirius said brightly. Now that it had been explained that the Potter's house did not have monsters living in it and attacking him in the mornings, he was quite cheerful. It also helped that he had eaten three large servings of lunch. "Why might that be?"

James cast a quick glance across the kitchen at Lily, who was sitting with the other girls playing a Muggle card game, before exchanging a look with Remus. "No reason," he said, trying to seem unsuspicious. Sirius took this as an acceptable answer and decided to join the card game, plopping down between Addy and Chloe, who immediately began explaining the game.

"Lucky its Sirius asking that question," Remus said with an amused look at James. "Only he would actually believe there's no reason for you being quiet."

"Oh, gee, thanks," James said with a sigh. "I just wish I knew what to do. I can't really go up and talk to her. She won't even look at me! How can I talk to her if she can't even look at me?"

"She probably feels weird about the other night," Remus said with a shrug. "You just have to grit your teeth and do it!"

"Easy for you to say that, you've never had to grit your teeth and do it," James muttered.

"What was that?" Remus said, laughing. "I've never had to just do something? Ah, Prongs, you may want to think a bit about that statement." He clapped James on the back and followed Sirius to play the card game. James heaved a sigh and went as well, figuring he may as well occupy himself somehow until he got a chance.

About a half hour later, Shelby, Chloe, and Addy all leapt up saying, "We should go shopping!" Baffled by their seeming telepathically timed pronouncement, the boys stared at them with wide eyes.

"Are you guys coming or staying here?" Addy asked, looking at the boys, Lily, and Alice.

"I think I'll stay here," Lily said. "I want to send a letter to my mum." She slipped out and went to find her parchment, ink, and quill. Alice grinned.

"I'll come," she said.

"Can we stop in the candy shop?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah, duh," Addy said, grinning happily.

"I'm already there!" Sirius said. "You two'd better come, though."

"'Course I'm coming," Remus said. "When was the last time I missed a trip to a candy store?" James started to agree but was stopped by both Alice and Remus stomping on his feet.

"I-I think I'll stay," he said, wincing in pain.

"Not coming to get food? Oh my, are you sick, James?" Chloe said, pretending to feel his forehead for a temperature. Then, laughing, she said, "Alright, have fun." Alice helped to herd everyone out the door, pausing only to retrieve their jackets, before they disappeared with a rather loud _pop_, leaving James and Lily alone in the Potter's house.

**A/N: Alright then, here's chapter 24, posted in a timelier manner than 23. **

**Writergal24 – Thank you very much I think cookies will have to be arranged for all the reviewers at the end of the story… not sure how that'd work out, but how lovely would that be? Anywho, thanks for sticking with this :D Most people wouldn't come back after… what was it, 3 months? Plus months between 22 and 23? Far too long in any case… So thanks again!**

**TheHollyWand – Thank you to you as well. I agree that Remus needed to have a sense of humor. Of the four, he is the voice of reason, but he couldn't possibly get along with James and Sirius without having some silly quirks and such!**

** Floor – First off, I adore your username. Totally made me much happier on a rather dreary day. Newbies are always very much welcomed around here. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Darth Sader – Thanks for your reviews. I'll do my best to update more quickly from now on.**

**MaraudersFredandGeorge4life – Thanks!**

**Reensie17 – Thank you very much. I hope you like these two chapters (if, of course, you're still there)**

**PatronusCharmBabe – Thank you so much for taking time to read part of my story. Means a ton to me 'cause your one of my fav fanfic writers.**

**HypedUpOnSugar24 – lolololol… I rant and rave a lot. I'm probably 10 times freakier/weirder thank you so don't worry 'bout that type of thing. Thanks for reviewing!**

**1hannah1 – glad to hear it. Thanks for the review!**

**Hpfan224 – I'll do my best not to be too repetitive. Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

**Wooh! I love you guys all so freakin' much. 70 reviews are more than I'd even dreamed of. Thank you sooooooooooo much!**

**So, I hope this was enjoyed. I'll try to post more often! Really!**

**Oh, and who's excited for POTTERMORE? **

**-Naomi**


	25. Poor Sirius

**Disclaimer: Lily and James ain't mine… bad grammar is though! XD**

Chapter 25

Poor Sirius

Lily, of course, didn't know this. If she had, she would have never skipped the shopping expedition. She found her writing materials quickly and set herself up comfortably at the dining room table. She began to write but, about half way through the letter, was interrupted by James entering the room.

"Potter," she exclaimed in surprise. "You didn't go?"

He shook his head. "Listen, I want to talk to you," he said, walking over.

Lily frowned. "What could you possibly want to talk about right now?" she asked him.

"I hope you're joking," James said, "because there are a million things that come to mind."

"Such as?"

"What happened during the dance?"

Lily was silent. "A lot of things happened," she said quietly, trying to avoid the question.

James, unsure of how really to respond about that, said, "How about what happened when you ran out?"

"I… a lot happened then, too," she said, not really sure what to say.

"I know a lot happened," James said. "That's why we need to talk about it."

"What am I supposed to say?" Lily asked him.

"I don't know, something about why you did what you did maybe?"

Lily then broke into a loud rant, exclaiming, "I didn't know what to do! I said no when you asked me to the dance because that's what I've always said and I've never ever given it a chance. Then later I was upset that I'd said no and was going to ask you to go with me and apologize but you were asking Katelyn when I went down so I ran back up. I had to find someone else to go with even though I didn't really want to go anymore but I did and I went and I thought maybe, even though you'd brought Katelyn, you'd let me dance just once with you but then I saw her kiss you and I was upset so I ran out and then you followed me and I didn't know what to do but you were going on about how it was an accident so then I kissed you! I don't really know why I did it except that I really like you but I can't just tell you that because I've hated you for so many years and been so mean and always pushed you away and gotten you in trouble. Now I don't what to do and I'm all confused and I don't want you to hate me because at this point you probably do and I don't think that I'm okay with you hating me now even but you'd be totally justified if you did so I understand if you never want to talk to me again and –"

"Wait, hold up," James said, a shocked look etched on his face. "Did – did you just admit that you _don't hate_ me and that, more than just being able to tolerate me, you _like_ me?"

Lily stared at him with a miserable expression and nodded. James' face split into a huge grin, his eyes sparkling with an overjoyed light. Lily, who seemed to think that he was smiling because this was something to hold against her, said, "Alright then, go ahead and tease me all you'd like."

"Tease you?" James said incredulously. "_Tease you?_ Why on earth would I do that? Honestly, there's something else I'd definitely prefer to do."

Lily looked at him in slight confusion. "What?"

James chuckled. "For being such a smart witch, you certainly aren't catching on very fast," he said, pulling her into a kiss. When he pulled back a moment later, Lily was smiling. "Have you figured it out?"

"I don't know," Lily said, a slightly mischievous look on her face. "I think you may have to show me again." Lily leaned in first, pressing her lips to James's. He pulled her closer, holding her in his arms, wishing the moment would never end. Lily put her arms around his neck, fingers toying with the ends of his ridiculously messy black hair. When the two finally separated, James laughed quietly.

"Poor Sirius is never going to be able to figure out what happened," he said.

**A/N: Well there we go. I think those two finally understand what's going on! Sirius will be seriously confused, though. Poor guy. **

**Sorry that it's short… but this is sort of how I imagined this part… I'll try to make the next chapter a bunch longer. **

**I hope you all enjoyed this… I personally did, but I know not everyone loves everything.**

** Floor – Thank you very much :) I figured out that I had to get a username/penname type thing as I was signing up as well but then my dad decided I couldn't have one and I had a year to think one up that I actually liked XD this is actually my third or fourth I believe. I always imagined Sirius as childish and of mean understanding while in school, so that's just how I figured I'd portray him… glad you enjoy it :D**

**MaraudersFredandGeorge4life – Thank you very much :3**

**writergal24 – correct, as always. Very insightful, you are. It may also help that I tend to be predictable, but… whatevah! Thankies for the review. I haven't been able to get an account on Pottermore. I think you had to get a special email thingy to get on before this coming Saturday… I'm super excited for it. I never did find the Magical Quill, so I didn't even have a chance at getting on early! :P**

**loving-arizona – Thank you so much for reviewing and for the compliments. They're very much appreciated.**

**AshJaz – Ah, well hello. Not sure if you'll read this or not, seeing as you didn't really seem to enjoy what I wrote, but if you do, wonderful. Thank you for reviewing – it wasn't quite the typical thing people have written. It actually made me think about what I've written so far. I personally liked how I'd portrayed them, but you, as your review stated, clearly didn't. I guess I didn't really see that some people may not agree with me… so thank you for helping me to realize that. Thank you for taking the time to put your thoughts into a review.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-Naomi **


	26. Discovered

**Disclaimer: Still doesn't belong to me.**

Chapter 26

Discovered

"We're home! Are you two still alive?" yelled Sirius as he and the rest of the shopping group appeared in the center of the Potter's living room.

"You are ridiculous," said Addy, rolling her eyes at him. "What if they're asleep?"

"What are you suggesting?" Sirius asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Shut up, you prat," Chloe said, punching him in the shoulder.

"You've wounded me!" Sirius howled, clutching his shoulder and collapsing to the floor, convulsing and then lying still with his tongue sticking out of his mouth.

"And good riddance," Chloe said, stepping over him. He grabbed her foot as she lifted it, though, and she fell on top of him in a shrieking mess. Addy giggled.

"You two look like idiots," she informed them.

"And you don't?" Sirius countered, swinging his leg around and catching her in the back of the knees. She screamed and fell, pulling down Remus, who tried to save himself by grabbing Shelby, who grabbed Alice, who wobbling a bit before falling on top of the pile of people.

"You are the most bizarre person I have ever had the misfortune to meet," Shelby said distastefully from beneath Alice.

"Thank you very kindly, madam," Sirius said in a muffled voice.

"Well," Alice said, standing up with some difficulty, seeing as the pile of people was almost as tall as she was, "I think that I'm going to find Lily and then fix myself something to eat."

"Excellent idea!" Sirius said, sitting up and knocking everyone off of him. "I'll find Prongsie!" He leapt up and dashed upstairs. Alice followed, though somewhat more slowly than the ever-energized Sirius. She was stopped almost immediately upon arriving at the top of the steps by Sirius letting out a confused yell. He came barreling out of the sitting room a moment later, eyes wide and jaw dropped. He stared at Alice, then stumbled back into the sitting room. Alice, confused, followed him, quickly figuring out the cause of his confusion.

Lily and James were seated comfortably in a chair, Lily sitting on James's lap, and both were fast asleep (though Alice predicted they wouldn't be for long). Their hands were clasped and both had smiles gracing their faces. Alice beamed at them and turned to Sirius, walking toward him and shooing him from the room and downstairs. The others had migrated to the kitchen, so Sirius and Alice had no trouble finding them.

"You look like you saw a ghost, Sirius," Shelby said teasingly.

"Ghost? The Potters don't have any ghosts in their house," Sirius said, looking even more confused.

"Oh, sorry, Muggle expression," Shelby said, blushing a bit.

"No, he just saw the most amazing thing ever," Alice said. "Lily and James finally got their acts together. It's so cute!"

"Seriously?" Addy said, jumping off her chair and running upstairs, Chloe and Shelby close behind her. A loud shriek of excitement followed a moment later, which was then followed by loud, startled cries from Lily and James. Minutes after that, the two came running into the kitchen, both looking flustered and embarrassed.

"Good morning, love birds," Alice chirped. Remus smirked at the pair as they blushed scarlet.

"What was that, mate?" Sirius yelped.

"Uh..." James said, sounding rather unintelligent.

"That was us taking a nap," Lily replied. "We were all up pretty late last night, remember? Well, we fell asleep. Big deal."

"Yeah, you're right. Huge deal!" squealed Chloe, flinging herself at Lily in excitement and nearly knocking her over. James caught her and stood her back up.

"Are you two together now?" Shelby asked.

"Duh! You have to be!" Addy responded before Lily could say anything.

"Nah, it could've been an accident," Sirius interjected.

"It's probably been going on for months and we didn't notice," Chloe said.

"No, that was definitely not a several month long relationship type of thing," Addy said. "It's new."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Shelby asked.

"Oh my gosh this is so adorable!" Chloe gushed.

"You two are the cutest couple ever," Addy added.

"This is scary," Remus said, frowning at the girls.

"Err, here's the plan," Sirius said. "Remus, take those three monsters and lock them in the laundry room. Then come to the parlor."

"Will do, mate," Remus said, saluting as if Sirius was captain in the army. He grabbed the three girls, who had been oblivious to the little exchange between the boys, and marched them to the laundry room. He pulled their wands from their pockets and locked the door. It wasn't until they were stuck that they realized what was going on.

"Hey!" Shelby said angrily.

"Sorry, it's for the good of the little love birds," Remus said cheekily.

"Jerk," muttered Chloe.

"I heard that," Remus said. "Just remember: I've got your wands, and you can't get out of there 'til I let you, so be good!" He then ran to the parlor, where Alice had seated Lily, James, and Sirius. She pointed at the seat beside her for him and he sat, looking at the blushing couple.

"Spill," Alice commanded.

"You guys all left for the mall and stuff," Lily began slowly. "I thought I was the only one here, but I wasn't."  
"She was writing a letter to her mum in the kitchen, so when I went in there, I found her," James continued.

"We talked and such for a little," Lily said.

"Then yeah," James finished lamely. "That's it."

"That's it?" Alice scoffed. "Sure. More like Lily confessed her feelings, James got super crazy, you two snogged for a good three hours, then fell asleep upstairs. Right?" Neither replied, but their blushes darkened considerably.

"What?" Sirius said, still looking thoroughly confused.

"Lily and James are together now," Remus clarified. Sirius stared blankly for a moment before his face split into a wide grin.

"Never thought you could do it, Prongsie!" He clapped James on the back.

"That's encouraging," James said quietly.

"Thanks, my friend," Sirius said. Then he wandered off to the kitchen, whistling merrily as he went. James looked at Remus with a confused expression.

"What exactly is he thankful for?" he asked.

**A/N: Eh heh, timely posting... failure. I really am sorry. Incredibly so. I'm also sorry that it's a pretty short chapter as well.**

**BlackBlueNSilver951:Thanks! And yeah, I think it's amusing to write about Sirius's oddities, but it's nice to think someone pities the poor boy.**

**writergal24: You're incredibly lucky about Pottermore. I still haven't been able to get on! Curse them and their procrastinating. It's driving me insane! It's April! And thank you very much!**

**MaraudersFredandGeorge4Life: I don't think I've told you, but I love your username. Fred and George are my fav characters (tied with James and Lily, of course). Thanks!**

**Elena Fisher: You got on Pottermore too? Gosh, I feel like a lame-o. Hopefully I get on soon... Thanks!**

**ginnyweasleylover99: Thank you!**

**SirusBlackisSiriuslyfunny333: I think I'll at least mention Marlene and Hestia, but this fic will probably end at about graduation and since Molly is quite a few years older then Lily and James (she would have to be if her oldest kid is Bill, who is like, 8 years older than Ron, who was born about two years after James and Lily would have graduated), she'll be talked about if I do a sequel and such. :)**

**hunting horucruxes: If you had evening the slightest idea of how happy your review made me... It's the highlight of my day (and my day's going pretty well!)**

**Darth Sader: I understand being impatient - believe me. I'm sorry for the wait I caused... I hope it was worth it.**

**I really didn't intend for it to take this long. Since last... October, was it? Well, since then, things got crazy. There were auditions in orchestra and I'm now concert mistress! We had musical auditions in November and I was cast in Little Women as Jo March (the lead) so I had rehearsal nearly every day. The performance was last month, so that's over now. I also have been spending far too much time with my lovely friends. Sorry. But the Hunger Games movie came out! Did everyone watch it and love it? I did!**

**Please, please, please excuse my late-ness. Please?  
-Naomi:)**


	27. Christmas Eve

**Disclaimer: Still don't own**

Chapter 27

Christmas Eve

"Why on earth did I agree to go to this blasted party?" Lily grumbled, flopping down onto the sofa unceremoniously.

"Because James's parents are hosting it and James is your boyfriend," Addy replied matter-of-factly.

"Not really," Lily protested. "And I don't want to wear a dress."

"But you love dresses," Chloe reminded her.

"Not in December," Lily answered.

"You just wore a dress in December like, a week ago," Shelby said.

"Your point?" Lily asked.

"You can wear one now, too. This one is different! I mean, it's short and cute and party-ish," Alice said forcefully.

"Mine is short? Look at some of those other dresses - those are short. Mine is overly modest in comparison," Lily grumbled.

"Would you prefer something shorter?" Alice asked. "I can easily take off a few inches-"  
"No, I'm good!" Lily said quickly.

"If you're sure," Alice said. "You'd best get changed then!" Alice swatted Lily playfully with a small clutch and laughed.

"Fine," Lily conceded, getting up and changing out of her comfortable sweats and into the dress she had bought. It was a simple dress made of a dark blue fabric with a slightly stiff but comfortable feeling that fell to her knees and was significantly tamer than her friends' dresses. Even Alice had chosen a rather short and heavily sequined gold number.

"Do you like it?" Alice asked in concern, trying to examine herself in the full length mirror. "It doesn't make me look… easy, does it?"

"Of course not," Lily replied. "You look amazing."

"Do you think Frank will like it?" Alice asked. "I picked it just for him…"

"He's going to love it," Lily said firmly.

Alice smiled. "Thanks, Lil. Now hurry along – I need to do your hair!"

"I was just going to curl it," Lily said, but Alice cut her off.

"I'll curl it. You put on make-up. Now, start! Fast!" Alice began working on Lily's hair, carefully curling each piece with her wand, while Lily applied a minimal amount of make-up, hoping it would pass Chloe, Addy, and Shelby's inspection.

"You two ready yet?" Chloe asked, marching over to Lily and Alice in her tight silver dress, bending a bit to look at Alice and Lily, but careful not to move too much and expose herself. "You two look great. Love the dress, Alice!"

"Thanks, Chloe," Alice said, smiling. "Yours is… very striking, as well."

"Thank you!" Chloe said, beaming.

"Guys… there's people already here," Addy said, shuffling over in her vibrant purple dress. "Alice, I love your dress."

"Thanks," Alice said, smiling. "Yours definitely fits you."

"Thanks, Alice," Addy said, "but I think I must say, Shelby's is my favorite."

"What about Shelby?" said Shelby, strutting over in her very short white dress and unconsciously striking a pose.

"Your dress is to die for," Addy said jealously.

"Thanks," Shelby said, flipping her hair over her shoulder and grinning. "I have to agree with you."

"Alice's is pretty nice, though," Addy said.

"Yeah, I love it," Shelby said. "If I hadn't got this one, I would've bought yours."

"Thanks, Shelby," Alice said, glancing at Lily and making a silly face while the other three began chatting about fashion. "I think yours is my favorite, Lily. I like this one, but it's a bit flashy… and their dresses scare me."

Lily laughed. "Thanks, Alice."

"One last thing: shoes," Alice said, a rather mischievous grin sneaking onto her face.

"Please nothing too high," Lily begged.

"I think these are perfect," Alice said, holding up cherry red heels that were at least six inches high. Lily looked horrified.

"No way!" she said, shaking her head vigorously.

"Wear these then," Alice said, tossing Lily some black heels that were about two inches shorter than the red ones. There were by no means easily managed shoes, but they were considerably better than the first pair.

"Fine," Lily said uncertainly, slipping the shoes on.

"What do you say about going downstairs and knocking some boys dead?" Alice asked, winking.

"I suppose we'll have to at some point and I'd rather go without the glamor queens to outshine me," Lily joked, standing up and smoothing her dress. She gave herself an unsure glance in the mirror, quite sure that her dress wasn't fit for the party but incapable of backing out. The girls hurried out of the room as quickly as they could (Alice, who was wearing enormous stiletto heels borrowed from Shelby, slowed them down with her precarious tottering) and got to the bottom of the steps just as Sirius walked over.

"Oh, hello," he said. "Don't you two look fancy."

"You look pretty neat yourself," Alice said, looking at Sirius's dark red suit.

"Why thank you, milady," he said, bowing dramatically. "I believe you have a young man waiting for you over near the fireplace. Some bloke by the name of Longbottom, if I'm not incorrect." He winked at Alice, who giggled and ran off to find Frank.

"Do you know where James is?" Lily asked.

"He's being a hostly host and greeting the guests at the door," Sirius said.

"Hostly host?" Lily repeated, laughing.

"Yes," Sirius confirmed. "Hostly host. It's correct grammar, and they are words. I am sure of it."

"I'm sure you are," Lily said. "Do you think his parents could spare him for a while? I think I need a kind host to show me around at this party."

"I'm certain they won't mind in the slightest," Sirius said, grinning. "I will fetch him immediately."

"No, I'll go find him," Lily said, stopping him. "You should go find some girls to bother for the evening."

"An excellent notion, Miss Evans," Sirius said, nodding. "I'll leave you to find the dashing Mr. Potter and I will go find some other fancy ladies." He ran off into the crowd of people, leaving Lily to push her way through to the door. She found James standing beside his parents, shaking hands with every single person who walked in the door. He was dressed in a midnight black suit and his hair was, from what she could see from behind him, still sticking up in random places. She smiled and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to see who it was and froze.

"Hey," Lily said softly, smiling a bit.

"You look amazing," he said. "One moment." He turned, said something to his parents, then returned to Lily, taking her hand and walking into the crowd with her. "Are you enjoying the party so far?"

"I've only been here a couple minutes," Lily said, "but yes. I have to say, this is the best part so far." Someone standing nearby stumbled and fell into Lily, giggling giddily and looking more than a little tipsy. "Are they always this crowded?"

"They're huge every year," James replied. "I think they get a bit bigger every time, though."

"Bigger?" Lily said disbelievingly.

"Well, yeah," James said. "No one dies, and they invite more people every time. Like you." He grinned. "I'm glad you came."

"I'm glad, too," Lily said, smiling a bit and going up further on her toes to brush her lips gently against his. "Happy Christmas, James."

"Happy Christmas to you too, Lily," James said, smiling happily down at her.

"That was the cutest thing I have ever seen." Lily and James turned to see Marlene McKinnon beaming at them.

"Oh, um, thanks?" Lily said uncertainly, blushing scarlet.

"I'm assuming you two are together then?" Marlene said, looking between the two.

"Yeah," James said, looking very pleased.

"Finally!" Marlene said, looking delighted. "It's been long enough."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"James has been mooning over you since first year. I think you two getting together was inevitable," Marlene replied. "Lily, you've caught yourself a good one. James is a great guy."

"Yeah, I know," Lily said, suddenly feeling a bit protective. She took a step forward so she stood between Marlene and James and tightened her grip on his hand. "He's a wonderful guy."

"Treat her right, James," Marlene said. "I doubt she'll stick around if you don't. And you'll have me to deal with if you mess up, 'kay?"

"I don't plan on messing this up," James said, squeezing her hand back.

"Have a nice night," Marlene said, smiling and walking off.

"Do you know her? Because I don't really, and I'm not quite sure why she suddenly came up to us," Lily said.

James laughed. "Marlene's some sort of distant relative. She comes to my mum's party every year, so I know her fairly well. She's a nice enough girl, but she's got nothing on you." Lily smiled and James bent a bit, kissing her. "No one has anything on you."

"That's very sweet of you to say," Lily said, smiling. "I don't think there are many people who have anything on you either."

"What are you saying?" James said teasingly. "That some people do have something on me?"

"Ah, well, you know," Lily said, grinning, "that Greg Mattingly… he's not really a bad thing to look at."

"The singer?" James looked affronted. "That's highly offensive, especially because he's one of the most funny looking blokes I've ever seen."

Lily laughed. "I was just kidding," she said.

"I'm sure you were," James said, mock pouting and looking away with an offended sniff.

Lily laughed softly and turned his face toward hers. "There isn't a single person in this entire world that has anything on you, James Potter," she said, suddenly grateful for the heels that Alice had forced her to wear as she leaned toward him and pressed a firm kiss to his lips. She felt James smile put a hand behind her neck, holding her close to him. When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against her, chuckling.

"You have absolutely no idea how great it is to be able to kiss you," he said, "after six and a half very long years of being rejected."

"Sorry about that," Lily said, "but you have to admit that you were a pompous, selfish, irritating, immature little boy, weren't you?"

"And I'm not anymore?" James said.

"Well, I'm not quite sure that you're selfless or mature, nor have you lost all of your irritating qualities," Lily teased, "but I think that I've come to like those qualities."

"Some or all?" James said.

"Some," Lily repeated, "but I can't say that it will remain that way, you know. You could probably change my mind very easily."

A wicked grin flashed across James's face and Lily laughed. However, they were interrupted by someone saying, "James, there you are!"

James and Lily turned to see James's father standing before them. "Er, hey, dad," James said rather awkwardly.

"I don't think I know your friend here," he said, smiling at Lily. "What's your name?"

"Lily Evans," Lily replied a bit nervously. She wasn't entirely sure why she was nervous to meet James's father, seeing as she already knew his mum, but she could hardly keep her legs from giving out beneath her. Thankfully, James seemed to notice and put an arm around her for support. She cast him a thankful smile.

"I'm Charles Potter, James's father. You're staying here with us, aren't you?" he said.

"Yes," Lily answered timidly.

"Splendid," he said, beaming at her. "I'm sorry I wasn't here when you and your friends arrived, but I was away for work until this evening."

"I understand," Lily said. "My dad used to travel for work as well, though his was significantly less… exciting work."

"What's your father's profession?" asked Charles.

"Um, he's a finance manager," Lily said. "My parents and sister are Muggles."

"Ah," Charles said, smiling. "James, your mother was looking for you, but I think I can spare you from her wrath if I find her now. Why don't you two go enjoy yourselves now?" Charles beamed at the couple and walked off in pursuit of his wife, leaving Lily and James on the edge of the dance floor. A slow song began to play and James gave Lily a crooked grin.

"Would you do me the great honor of dancing with me, Miss Evans?" he said, performing a sweeping bow.

Lily giggled, and replied, "I would be honored to dance with you, Mr. Potter," and curtsied. She felt very silly doing so, but ignored the feeling and walked out to the dance floor with James. She soon lost herself as she stared into his hazel eyes, feeling more content than she had in a long time. She settled herself with her head on his chest, a smile playing on her lips. "This is a much better dance than the one at school," she mused.

"I quite agree," James said quietly, resting his head atop hers as they swayed to the music, dancing the night away.

**A/N: Yeah. Another long break from writing. Sorry :( I'll try to be better again.**

**writergal24: Thanks!**

**hunting horcruxes: Thanks, and I'll definitely be trying to upload more regularly and such. Sorry about the wait – really, I am sorry!**

**The-Delectable-May-Reach: Nope, not the end, don't worry. I think I'll go through the end of their seventh year and maybe if I'm feeling up to it a sequel… but that's to be decided later. For now, this story continues :)**

**-Naomi**


End file.
